Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2020 March 24

                    A Black Hole Disrupts a Passing Star
                   Illustration Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech

   Explanation: What happens to a star that goes near a black hole? If the
   star directly impacts a massive black hole, then the star falls in
   completely -- and everything vanishes. More likely, though, the star
   goes close enough to have the black hole's gravity pull away the outer
   layers of the star, or disrupt the star. Then most of the star's gas
   does not fall into the black hole. These stellar tidal disruption
   events can be as bright as a supernova, and an increasing amount of
   them are being discovered by automated sky surveys. In the featured
   artist's illustration, a star has just passed a massive black hole and
   sheds gas that continues to orbit. The inner edge of a disk of gas and
   dust surrounding the black hole is heated by the disruption event and
   may glow long after the star is gone.

                       Tomorrow's picture: star wings
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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