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Title: New Type of Supernova Detected as Black Hole Causes Star To Explode

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/14/1...

An anonymous reader shares a report: Astronomers have observed the calamitous
result of a star that picked the wrong dance partner. They have documented
what appears to be a new type of supernova, as stellar explosions are known,
that occurred when a massive star tried to swallow a black hole with which it
had engaged in a lengthy pas de deux. The star, which was at least 10 times
as massive as our sun, and the black hole, which had a similar mass, were
gravitationally bound to one another in what is called a binary system. But
as the distance separating them gradually narrowed, the black hole's immense
gravitational pull appears to have distorted the star -- stretching it out
from its spherical shape -- and siphoned off material before causing it to
explode. An AI algorithm detected the event in real time, enabling
astronomers to conduct comprehensive observations. Data from four years
before the supernova showed bright emissions as the black hole consumed its
companion's outer hydrogen layer. The exact mechanism remains uncertain --
either gravitational distortion triggered the star's collapse or the black
hole completely tore it apart first. Following the explosion, the black hole
consumed residual stellar debris, growing more massive.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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