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Scientists have observed the most powerful black hole flare ever recorded, with a brightness equivalent to 10 trillion suns. The flare, detected from a supermassive black hole located 10 billion light-years away, is the most distant and energetic of its kind. The event was first spotted in 2018 and has been ongoing for over seven years.
Matthew Graham, a research professor at the California Institute of Technology, led the study published in the journal Nature Astronomy. He described the flare as "a one-in-a-million object," noting its intensity and duration are unprecedented. The black hole, estimated to be 500 million times the mass of the sun, consumed a star at least 30 times the sun's mass. This process, known as a tidal disruption event, occurs when a star is pulled apart by the black hole's gravity, creating a luminous outburst.
The flare's discovery was made possible by the Zwicky Transient Facility and the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, both based at Caltech's Palomar Observatory. Initially identified as a bright object, the flare's significance was realized in 2023 when researchers revisited the data and calculated its distance. "If it’s that far away and it’s this bright, how much energy is being put out? This is now something unusual and very interesting," Graham stated.
The findings offer insights into the dynamic environments of supermassive black holes and their role in the universe. As the flare continues to fade, it remains observable with ground-based telescopes, providing a rare glimpse into the universe's early epoch. Scientists hope to identify similar events in the future to further understand the formation and behavior of black holes.