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Black Hole TDE AT2024tvd Compass Image

Image titled “AT2024tvd, HST WFC3 + Chandra X-ray Observatory” at top left with compass arrows and color key at the bottom. Below the name, filters are listed: F275W in green, F625W in orange, and X-Ray in blue. These colors indicate the visible-light color is assigned to each filter. The TDE event takes up a majority of the view. The TDE appears as an isolated blue-white point source of ultraviolet light, while the galaxy is colored orange in visible light. In addition, X-Ray light is captured by Chandra as a purple haze surround the TDE. The length of the scale bar at bottom left is about a fifth of the total width. It is labeled 11,700 light-years and 4 arcseconds. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 9 o’clock. The north arrow points toward 12 o’clock.

This is a combined Hubble Space Telescope/Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of a distant galaxy that is host to the telltale signature of a roaming supermassive black hole. Both telescopes caught a tidal disruption event (TDE), an intense flash of radiation caused by the supermassive black hole eating a star. The TDE appears as an isolated blue-white point source of ultraviolet light, while the galaxy is colored orange in visible light. In addition, Chandra captured X-ray light as a blue haze that surrounds the TDE. Both Hubble and Chandra observations were combined to pinpoint the TDE's location, which is offset from the center of the galaxy, which appears as a bright orange-white blob.

The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.

The scale bar is labeled in light-years along the top, which is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. (It takes three years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the scale bar.) One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.

The scale bar is also labeled in arcseconds, which is a measure of angular distance on the sky. One arcsecond is equal to an angular measurement of 1/3600 of one degree. There are 60 arcminutes in a degree and 60 arcseconds in an arcminute. (The full Moon has an angular diameter of about 30 arcminutes.) The actual size of an object that covers one arcsecond on the sky depends on its distance from the telescope.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

This image shows visible wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colors. The color key shows which [instrument] filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible-light color used to represent the light that passes through that filter.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    17:10:42.58
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +28:50:15.13
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Hercules
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    AT2024tvd
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Black Hole Tidal Disruption Event
  • Release Date
    May 8, 2025
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Science: NASA, ESA, STScI, Yuhan Yao (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

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  • Full Res (For Print), 2506 × 1718
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  • Full Res (JPG), 2506 × 1718
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  • 2000 × 1371
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Related Images & Videos

Six-panel illustration marked "Artist's Concept." The upper left panel shows the silhouette of supermassive black that is adrift inside a galaxy. The middle upper panel shows a yellow star drifting near the black hole. The three following panels show the star being shredded in bright white concentric streamers followed by a white explosion. the bottom right panel is an external view of the galaxy showing a bright white star-like object that is the site if the explosion as viewed in X-rays and visible light.

Six panel illustration of Black Hole TDE AT2024tvd

This is a six-panel illustration of a tidal disruption event around a supermassive black hole.

A fuzzy orange-yellow oval occupies the middle fourth of the image. It extends from 10 ou2019clock to 4 ou2019clock. A bright white spot is located within the oval but offset to the upper left from the core. An additional smaller, grainy, orange disk is located at lower right. A couple of additional orange points are in the frame. The background of space is black.

Black Hole TDE AT2024tvd

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a distant galaxy that is host to the telltale signature of a roaming supermassive black hole.

This is a combined Hubble Space Telescope/ Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of distant galaxy that is host to the telltale signature of a roaming supermassive black hole. Both telescopes caught a tidal disruption event (TDE), an intense flash of radiation caused by the supermassive black hole eating a star. The TDE appears as an isolated blue-white point source of ultraviolet light, while the galaxy is colored orange in visible light. In addition, X-Ray light is captured by Chandra as a purple haze surround the TDE. Both Hubble and Chandra observations were combined to pinpoint the TDEu2019s location, which is offset from the center of the galaxy, which appears as a bright orange-white blob.

Black Hole TDE AT2024tvd (Hubble + Chandra)

This is a combined Hubble Space Telescope/Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of a distant galaxy that is host to the telltale signature of a roaming supermassive black hole.

This is a video animation of a tidal disruption event (TDE), an intense flash of radiation caused by the supermassive black hole eating a star. The video begins by zooming into a distant elliptical galaxy that is white located 600 million light-years away. We fly into a blizzard of stars inside the galaxy. We see the silhouette of a supermassive black hole that is only slightly visible due to the way it distorts light from background stars, through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. A wayward star get swept up in the black holeu2019s intense gravitational pull. It is stretched like taffy and makes a white Spirograph pattern as it falls toward the black hole. There is and incredible burst of white radiation. See from afar, the TDE monetarily outshines the entire galaxy as a brilliant pinpoint of white light.

Black Hole Tidal Disruption Event

This is a video animation of a tidal disruption event (TDE), an intense flash of radiation caused by the supermassive black hole eating a star. The video begins by zooming into a galaxy located 600 million light-years away.

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Details

Last Updated
May 08, 2025
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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