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Black Hole Tidal Disruption Event

This is a video animation of a tidal disruption event (TDE), an intense flash of radiation caused by a supermassive black hole eating a star. The video begins by zooming into a galaxy located 600 million light-years away. We fly into the galaxy’s starry population. Up ahead is a one million solar mass black hole. The black hole is only slightly visible due to the way it distorts light from background stars, through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. A wayward star is swept up in the black hole’s intense gravitational pull and is stretched like taffy as it falls toward the black hole. There is an incredible burst of radiation. Seen from afar, the TDE momentarily outshines the entire galaxy as a brilliant pinpoint of light.

  • Release Date
    May 8, 2025
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Animation: NASA, ESA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

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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.

Image titled u201cAT2024tvd, HST WFC3 + Chandra X-ray Observatoryu201d 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.u00a0The 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 ou2019clock. The north arrow points toward 12 ou2019clock.

Black Hole TDE AT2024tvd Compass Image

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.

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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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