Scientists have seen the vast blast thrown out by a black hole eating a star for the first ever time. Researchers have finally watched the formation and expansion of the fast-moving jet of material that is thrown out when a supermassive black hole's gravity grabs a star and tears it apart. Scientists watched the dramatic event using highly specialised telescopes, which are trained on a pair of colliding galaxies called Arp 299, nearly 150 million light-years from Earth. At the centre of one of those galaxies, a star twice the size of the Sun came too close to a black hole that is more than 20 million times big as our Sun – and was shredded apart, throwing a blast across the universe. Artist conception of a tidal disruption event (TDE) that happens when a star passes fatally close to a supermassive black hole, which reacts by launching a relativistic jet. (Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF; NASA, STScI ) (Nasa) It was that blast that scientists were able to see happen for the first time ever. Theorists have long thought the events were common – speculating that material torn from the star makes a rotating disk around the black hole, emitting intense X-rays and visible light, and also pushes jets of material outward from the poles of the disk at nearly the speed of light – but have been yet to see it actually happen. "Never before have we been able to directly observe the formation and evolution of a jet from one of these events," said Miguel Perez-Torres, of the Astrophysical Institute of Andalusia in Granada, Spain. 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Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region Most galaxies have supermassive black holes, which can pull matter into them and form a huge disc around their outsides as they do. But for the most part, those black holes stay quiet, not devouring anything. That means that the violent events that scientists have finally seen can be a unparalleled insight into what actually happens around a black hole. "Much of the time, however, supermassive black holes are not actively devouring anything, so they are in a quiet state," Perez-Torres said. "Tidal disruption events can provide us with a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the formation and evolution of jets in the vicinities of these powerful objects," he added. Recommended Scientists discover three baby planets hiding in our own galaxy "Because of the dust that absorbed any visible light, this particular tidal disruption event may be just the tip of the iceberg of what until now has been a hidden population," Mattila said. "By looking for these events with infrared and radio telescopes, we may be able to discover many more, and learn from them," he said. Researchers had initially turned their sights towards the doomed star as part of a search for supernova explosions in such colliding pairs of galaxies. They had initially thought that they were seeing was one such a supernova explosion – but it kept expanding, confirming that it was in fact a jet being spewed out as the star was torn apart.<doc-sep>Get email updates with the day's biggest stories Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice A supermassive black hole was seen 'eating' a star for the first time as a blast of matter was thrown across the universe, scientists have said. Researchers watched as the black hole's gravity grabbed the star - twice the size of the sun- and tore it apart. The star came too close to the hole, which was more than 20 million times as big as the sun. Scientists saw what happened as the vast blast thrown out by the hole was launched like a fast-moving jet. They saw the blast happen for the first time and were able to do so using special telescopes, the Independent reports. (Image: NASA) These telescopes are trained on colliding galaxies almost 15million light-years from Earth. It was in the middle of one of these galaxies that the star was torn apart. Miguel Perez-Torres, of the Astrophysical Institute of Andalusia in Granada, Spain, said: "Never before have we been able to directly observe the formation and evolution of a jet from one of these events." (Image: NASA) He added: "Much of the time supermassive black holes are not actively devouring anything, so they are in a quiet state. "Tidal disruption events can provide us with a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the formation and evolution of jets in the vicinities of these powerful objects." Researchers initially thought the star was part of a supernova exploision. Black holes mostly stay quiet so what the scientists have finally seen was a rare insight.<doc-sep>
Beware of the hungry black hole. Astronomers tracked a supermassive black hole, 20 million times larger than the sun, which ate up and destroyed a star that came too close. SEE ALSO: Three baby planets hanging around a star discovered by astronomers Located nearly 150 million light years away from Earth, scientists theorise the star swirled around the black hole, emitting intense x-rays and visible light, as a jet of material spat out at a quarter of the speed of light. Such an occurrence, called a tidal disruption event (TDE), has been rarely spotted. But scientists think they happen more often. In the case of this stellar death, astronomers used radio and infrared telescopes, such as New Mexico's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), to keep an eye on the event which happened in a pair of colliding galaxies called Arp 299. "Never before have we been able to directly observe the formation and evolution of a jet from one of these events," Miguel Perez-Torres, from the Astrophysical Institute of Andalusia and who published a report in the journal Science, said in a statement online. Artist's rendering of a tidal disruption event (TDE) that happens when a star passes fatally close to a supermassive black hole, which reacts by launching a relativistic jet. It zooms out of the central region of its host galaxy, Arp299B, which is undergoing a merging process with Arp299A (the galaxy to the left). Image: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF; NASA, STScI Perez-Torrez and Seppo Mattila, of the University of Turku in Finland, got their first indication something was going on in January 2005. Astronomers noticed a bright burst near Arp 299, and kept track of the occurrence over a decade, which revealed a jet of electromagnetic waves going in one direction from the black hole. A black hole is an area of space which has such strong gravitational pull that nothing can escape from it, including light. Although most galaxies have black holes, they're not necessarily out there actively eating everything up. Mattila said the discovery might just be the "tip of the iceberg" for TDEs, with the potential for more discoveries ahead. "By looking for these events with infrared and radio telescopes, we may be able to discover many more, and learn from them," he added.