Supermassive Black Hole Eating Sun-Like Star Discovered

A supermassive black hole was discovered at the center of a relatively nearby galaxy while is consuming up a star similar in size and composition to our sun.

It is for the first time that scientists have observed a sun-like star being repeatedly snacked upon by a supermassive black hole.

Each time the star passes close to the black hole in its oval-shaped orbit, the black hole is eating up a mass equal to about three times Earth’s mass of the star.

The star was observed orbiting the black hole every 20 to 30 days. At one end of its orbit, it ventures near enough to the black hole to have some of its material sucked away.

Scientists used the data from NASA’s orbiting Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to discover this black hole and the decaying star orbiting it.

As per researchers, this black hole and the star it is eating up are located about 520 million light years from our solar system. The supermassive black hole is at the centre of the spiral-shaped galaxy.

Black holes have gravity so strong that not even light can escape out of them.

Most galaxies have such black holes at their center, and the environment around them can be among the most violent places in the universe.