Scientists spot a supermassive black hole savoring its very last meal

Researchers have observed a supermassive black hole savoring its last meal as only pieces of the object are being torn off every year it passes by.

Scientists spot a supermassive black hole savoring its very last meal
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Tech and Science Editor
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Researchers have used data acquired by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to detail a supermassive black hole's last meal, and how many times it will snack on it before its completely consumed.

The supermassive black hole was originally discovered in 2018 and is called AT2018fyk, and it has a mass approximately 50 million times more than the Sun. When the supermassive black hole was first discovered researchers noticed a brief spike in the brightness of the system, which when observing black holes typically means the celestial vacuum cleaner has consumed material. The scientists calculated if it was an object orbiting the black hole it would pass by again in August 2023.

The waiting was worth it, as researchers detected the object again on August 13. Researchers determined the object was a star that is orbiting the black hole at a distance that only causes chunks of its material to be torn off and sucked into the black hole. The orbit of the star has put it a bit of a pickle as its too far away to be completely consumed by the black hole (yet), but is still close enough for the extreme gravitational pull of the black hole to tear material off its surface.

Scientists spot a supermassive black hole savoring its very last meal 56546456

"Chandra observations on August 14, 2023, indeed showed the telltale sign of the black hole feeding coming to an end with a sudden drop in X-rays. The researchers also obtained a better estimate of how long it takes the star to complete an orbit, and predicted future mealtimes for the black hole," reads the Chandra X-ray Observatory press release

Following the August 13 observation researchers were able to get a much more accurate model of the star's orbit, and have been able to predict future feeding days for the black hole.

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Jak joined the TweakTown team in 2017 and has since reviewed 100s of new tech products and kept us informed daily on the latest science, space, and artificial intelligence news. Jak's love for science, space, and technology, and, more specifically, PC gaming, began at 10 years old. It was the day his dad showed him how to play Age of Empires on an old Compaq PC. Ever since that day, Jak fell in love with games and the progression of the technology industry in all its forms.

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