(BIVN) – Hawaiʻi astronomers have detected a rare occurrence of a distant star being torn apart by a supermassive black hole.  

Astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) uncovered the stellar event last year. Follow-up observations were made using telescopes on Mauna Loa, Maunakea, and Haleakalā.

The University says that on February 22, 2023, the team detected a sudden surge in brightness using the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) system. The moment was followed by a rapid dimming in the galaxy NGC 3799, located about 160 million light-years from Earth.

“While black holes destroying stars have been seen before, this is the first one we have seen this close using visible light,” said Willem Hoogendam, an IfA graduate student who co-led the research. “This could give us a much better understanding of how SMBHs grow and collect material around them.”

From the University of Hawaiʻi:

Follow-up observations were taken with IfA’s Asteroid Terrestrial Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescopes on Maunaloa and Haleakalā, W.M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, and other ground- and space-based observatories. Hoogendam, working with fellow IfA grad student Jason Hinkle and faculty advisor Ben Shappee, analyzed these data to determine that the burst of brightness was caused by a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE). TDEs happen when a star gets too close to a SMBH and is torn apart by its strong gravitational force, with the black hole devouring the star’s mass. Research findings will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

“This discovery suggests that black holes ripping stars apart nearby could be more common than previously thought – we just haven’t witnessed it happening frequently,” said Hoogendam.

The University says that although the event (named ASASSN-23bd) was located about 160 million light-years from Earth, it is still a “remarkable nearby” Tidal Disruption Event, and is therefore said to be “an excellent subject for further study”.

Scientists noted that the ASASSN-23bd event was unlike many other Tidal Disruption Event observed before, in that it emitted much less energy than previous TDEs, was the closest discovered using visible light, and its “change in brightness happened about twice as fast as most TDEs”.