Black Hole Consuming a Star
This illustration shows a glowing stream of material from a star as it is being devoured by a supermassive black hole in a tidal disruption flare. When a star passes close enough to a black hole to be gravitationally disrupted, the stellar material gets stretched and compressed. In the process of being accreted, the gas heats up and creates optical and ultraviolet light, which destroys nearby dust but merely heats dust further out. The farther dust that is heated emits a large amount of infrared light. In recent years, a few dozen such flares have been discovered, but they are not well understood.
Size: 4799px × 2700px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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