NASA’s Swift Satellite Ultraviolet Measurements From Tidal Disruption

Observations by NASA’s Swift satellite provided the earliest ultraviolet measurements from a tidal disruption to date. This allowed scientists to determine that the temperature dropped by about 50%, from around 71,500 to 35,500 degrees Fahrenheit (40,000 to 20,000 degrees Celsius), over a few days.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center