'Supermassive black holes' may have destroyed three stars

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.
According to Phys.org, black holes can "fully absorb the captured matter of a destroyed star" in just a few years' time, and the satellites used X-ray data to detect at least three destroyed stars, using data collected in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to the stars detected, new data has found that stars' destruction near black holes in the same galaxy happens roughly once every 30,000 years.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The researchers plan to debut the new observatory Spectrum-X-Gamma in 2016 to further examine the effects of "supermassive black holes" on their surroundings.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
-
Is it time to ban smacking in England?
Today's Big Question Experts are calling for 'Victorian-era punishment' to be scrapped, but the government isn't ready to act
By Abby Wilson Published
-
The Arab League's plan for Gaza
The Explainer Arab leaders reject Donald Trump's proposals to move Palestinians out of Gaza to create 'Middle East Riviera'
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Thrilling must-see operas for 2025
The Week Recommends From Carmen to Peter Grimes, these are the UK's top productions
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 years
Speed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Scientists report optimal method to boil an egg
Speed Read It takes two temperatures of water to achieve and no fancy gadgets
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Europe records big leap in renewable energy
Speed Read Solar power overtook coal for the first time
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Blue Origin conducts 1st test flight of massive rocket
Speed Read The Jeff Bezos-founded space company conducted a mostly successful test flight of its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US won its war on 'murder hornets,' officials say
Speed Read The announcement comes five years after the hornets were first spotted in the US
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark energy data suggest Einstein was right
Speed Read Albert Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity has been proven correct, according to data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New DNA tests of Pompeii dead upend popular stories
Speed Read An analysis of skeletal remains reveals that some Mount Vesuvius victims have been wrongly identified
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
NASA's Europa Clipper blasts off, seeking an ocean
Speed Read The ship is headed toward Jupiter on a yearslong journey
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published