'Supermassive black holes' may have destroyed three stars

'Supermassive black holes' may have destroyed three stars
(Image credit: iStock)

New research suggests that three stars may have been completely destroyed by "supermassive black holes" in the centers of galaxies.

Scientists at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences studied data from ROSAT and XMM-Newton, two observatories that gathered information on black holes. ROSAT orbited from 1990 to 1999, until XMM-Newton took its place. Together, the satellites provided information about what the researchers speculate may be "the total destruction of stars" by black holes. The research is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal.

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Meghan DeMaria

Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.