SCOTTISH researchers and astronomers have helped to discover evidence of a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole.
Edinburgh University is working with The John Hopkins University in the US and the universities of Durham and Belfast to uncover details of the event for the first time.
Supermassive black holes weigh millions to billions times more than the sun and lurk in the centres of most galaxies, waiting for something to come too close and get torn apart by their powerful gravitational clutches.
Astronomers have spotted this happening before, but this is the first time they have been able to identify the victim as a star.
Research leader Suvi Gezari, of the John Hopkins University, said: "It is like gathering evidence from a crime scene. This is the first time where we have so many pieces of evidence. Now we can put them all together to weigh the black hole and determine the identity of the star that fell victim to it."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article