PS1-10jh: A galaxy about 2.7 billion light years from Earth with a supermassive black hole at its center.
This computer-simulated image shows gas from a star that is ripped apart by tidal forces as it falls into a black hole. Some of the gas also is being ejected at high speeds into space. Observations from multiple telescopes, including NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, were used to determine the most direct evidence yet of a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. Chandra's X-ray data were critical in ruling out the other contending possibility that this galaxy instead contained a so-called active galactic nucleus.
Illustration credit: NASA, S. Gezari (The Johns Hopkins University), and J. Guillochon (University of California, Santa Cruz); video credit: NASA, S. Gezari (The Johns Hopkins University), and J. Guillochon (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Note: This is the current big story. For more information, see PS1-10jh: Black Hole Caught Red-handed in a Stellar Homicide . Also, see:
* Black Hole Caught Red-Handed in a Stellar Homicide
* PIA15429: Black Hole Erupts
* PIA15620: Black Hole Swallows a Star
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