NASA has released an image of a black hole tearing apart a star in a cosmic explosion. The event occurred 600 million light-years away, and its radiation has just reached Earth. The rare sighting, captured by Hubble, is a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE) and may lead to new black hole discoveries.

BulletsIn

• Black hole devoured star 600 million years ago
• Radiation just reached Earth, seen as a bright dot
• Hubble Space Telescope captured the explosion
• Chandra X-ray & Very Large Array confirmed findings
• Event named AT2024tvd, spotted away from galaxy center
• May help detect “wandering black holes”
• First offset TDE found via optical sky survey
• Event supports “spaghettification” theory—star stretched by black hole gravity
• Releases visible & ultraviolet light seen from Earth
• TDEs reveal hidden supermassive black holes