Astronomers have observed the most powerful flare ever seen from a supermassive black hole, located about ten billion light years away. The flare made the black hole brighten more than forty times over a short period, reaching a luminosity equal to ten trillion suns. Researchers believe this extraordinary event happened when a massive star, roughly thirty times the mass of our Sun, ventured too close and was violently torn apart by the black hole’s gravity.
The black hole itself is estimated to be around five hundred million times the mass of the Sun. When the star was shredded, its gas spiraled inward, heating up to extreme temperatures and creating an enormous outburst of light and energy. Because the black hole sits in an active galactic nucleus that already feeds on gas and dust, the resulting flare was magnified even further, becoming about thirty times brighter than any event of its kind ever observed.
This remarkable discovery helps scientists understand how supermassive black holes grow and release energy when consuming matter. It also shows that these cosmic giants can produce bursts of radiation powerful enough to be seen across billions of light years. The event offers a rare glimpse into one of the universe’s most extreme and energetic processes.
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