Black hole gets a star for dinner

Astronomers got wind of a gamma ray burst and immediately designated the “Swift” spacecraft, which monitors the skies for bursts of radiation, to keep an eye out.

This event that was first spotted in 28 March 2011 had no marks of an imploding sun. The quick blast of energy was first thought to be a potential flare from the implosion of an aging star.

There was something that intrigued the researchers; the gamma ray burst flared up four times over a period of four hours.

Astrophysicist Dr. Andrew Levan from the University of Warwick, and his colleagues were looking for a very different galactic event; one where a wandering star got sucked into a black hole.

The energy bursts matched with what we could expect when a star got sucked into a black hole.

What caused the radiation burst?


Black holes reside at the centers of most galaxies. They are visible only when an object such as a star is pulled into it. As a result of this, the star elongates.

After some time, the star spreads out to form a “banana” shape. The inner edge would orbit faster than the outer edge and wraps itself around the hole.

As the star is sucked into the black hole, it becomes compressed and releases radiation. That is what we saw in this case as well.