NASA Gets Unusually Close Glimpse of Black Hole Snacking on Star

Multiple NASA telescopes recently observed a massive black hole tearing apart an unlucky star that wandered too close. Located about 250 million light-years from Earth in the center of another galaxy, it was the fifth-closest example of a black hole destroying a star ever observed.

Once the star had been thoroughly ruptured by the black hole’s gravity, astronomers saw a dramatic rise in high-energy X-ray light around the black hole. This indicated that as the stellar material was pulled toward its doom, it formed an extremely hot structure above the black hole called a corona. NASA’s NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescopic Array) satellite is the most sensitive space telescope capable of observing these wavelengths of light, and the event’s proximity provided an unprecedented view of the corona’s formation and evolution, according to a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal.

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[PittbuII]

Where is the original video/photos? Can I see it anywhere instead of these animations?

[dannyb]

We've spent so long considering a black hole's primary force (gravity) that we've never considered other forces like magnetism. It'll be interesting to see what can be discovered about it.

This also brings up another question: What is the power limit of a magnetar? How big / strong can they become? Can magnetic forces alone do crazy things to stars?

[wannabeMLGpro]

Can anyone actually verify if that video is real? There's no way

[peterryan]

What a fantastic overview of this phenomenon. Simply sensational. Wow