NASA's Hubble telescope finds blackhole that swallowed star 600 mn yrs ago

Nasa's telescopes capture an astronomical event, called a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE) which took place around 600 million light years ago

NASA has shared an image of a black hole swallowing a star and causing a massive cosmic-level explosion. The event took place around 600 million years ago, and its radiation burst reached us now, which seems like a bright dot.

Hubble and other telescopes confirms

The Hubble Space Telescope managed to capture this rare cosmic moment, known as a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE). NASA also confirmed the discovery using two other tools: the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array radio telescope.

 

Sharing the image on X (formerly Twitter), NASA wrote, "A black hole revealed itself from 600 million light-years away when it ripped apart and swallowed a star. The resulting burst of radiation is the bright dot just off-centre captured in this @NASAHubble image."

 

A black hole revealed itself from 600 million light-years away when it ripped apart and swallowed a star. The resulting burst of radiation is the bright dot just off-center captured in this @NASAHubble image. https://t.co/g7mSVRZHd1 pic.twitter.com/7FnDsSmCb2

— NASA (@NASA) May 8, 2025

Big step in black hole research

Yuhan Yao, the lead researcher from the University of California, Berkeley, said this event — named AT2024tvd — is special because it's the first TDE spotted slightly away from the center of a galaxy by optical sky surveys. This could help scientists find a new group of so-called “wandering black holes” in future space studies.

 

She added, “Right now, theorists haven’t paid much attention to these offset TDEs. I believe this discovery will inspire more research into these unusual black hole events.”

What is a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE)?

A TDE happens when a star comes too close to a black hole. The black hole’s powerful gravity pulls the star apart — a process called "spaghettification" because the star gets stretched into long, thin pieces.

 

These remains swirl around the black hole and heat up, releasing bursts of energy. These bursts can be seen from Earth through visible and ultraviolet light using powerful telescopes.

Why does it matter?

Ryan Chornock, a professor at UC Berkeley and a member of the ZTF research team, explained that TDEs help scientists detect massive black holes that would otherwise remain hidden. “Tidal disruption events hold great promise for illuminating the presence of massive black holes that we would otherwise not be able to detect,” he said.