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Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to track AT2022dsb tidal tearing events. Recently, astronomers have discovered the closest tidal tearing event to Earth, the first time a tidal tearing event has been identified in the infrared band. Next, let's take a look at what happened to these two tidal tearing events.

/ photos by Jason Goodyer (Jason Goodyer)

Translation | Happy

Editor | Wen Jing

Source: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)

Tracking and observation of tidal tearing event on March 1, 2022, a tidal tearing event (TDE,tidal disruption event) was discovered by the all-weather automatic supernova observation system (ASAS-SN). ASAS-SN is a network of ground-based telescopes that search for violent cosmic events.

Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe a black hole twisting a nearby star into the shape of a doughnut and then slowly devouring it. The event, named AT2022dsb, took place at the center of the galaxy ESO 583-G004, nearly 300 million light-years from Earth.

This "prey" is a typical example of a cosmic tidal tearing event-an astronomical phenomenon that is torn apart by the massive gravity of a black hole when a star moves very close to the black hole. After the star is torn to pieces, the black hole gobbles up the star debris and releases intense radiation.

1. A normal star passes near a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. two。 The external gas of the star is sucked into the gravitational field of the black hole. 3. Stars are torn apart by tidal forces. 4. The remnants of the star are pulled into a doughnut-shaped ring around the black hole and eventually fall into the black hole, releasing large amounts of light and high-energy radiation. Image source: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI) astronomers used the powerful ultraviolet imaging capability of Hubble Telescope to track the subsequent development of this event.

"generally speaking, these events are difficult to observe. Only when the tidal tearing occurs and the brightness is particularly high, can we observe some clues. What is unique about this research project is that it has been observed for as long as a year, and we can figure out the causes and consequences of this event." Said Peter Peter Maksym, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

"We noticed the black hole early in the event, so we can observe it from the intense accretion phase of the black hole. we see that as the tidal tearing event subsides, so does the accretion rate of the black hole."

After analyzing the data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope, the researchers believe that fragments of the star formed a gaseous ring like a doughnut around the black hole, about the size of the solar system, while the star debris was slowly being sucked into the black hole.

The researchers hope that an in-depth study of this or similar events will improve their understanding of the life cycle of black holes. "the star is torn apart by gravity and then slowly swallowed up by the black hole. For this event, we are really still in the exploratory stage." Maxim said.

"Science is about putting forward different theoretical models. You look at these models and think you understand the principle, but you soon observe new phenomena. At times like this, scientists are always excited, because it means that you are standing on the dividing line between the known and the unknown."

For the first time, tidal tearing events were identified in the infrared band. Recently, astronomers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered a new tidal tearing event in the infrared band. This is the first time that scientists have identified a tidal tearing event directly in the infrared band. It is worth noting that the newly discovered burst is the latest tidal tear ever observed: in the galaxy NGC 7392, 137 million light-years from Earth.

The event, named WTP14adbjsh, was published in the Astrophysical Journal KuaiBao (The Astrophysical Journal) on April 28.

WTP14adbjsh is not obviously observed in traditional X-ray and visible light data. Scientists speculate that this is not because it does not emit X-rays and ultraviolet light, but because it is obscured by large amounts of dust, which emits heat in the form of infrared waves when it absorbs radiation.

The first is an image of the peak infrared flare observed in 2015, the second is a reference image created by stacking data observed in 2010-2011, and the third is a difference between the first two images; image source: The Astrophysical Journal researchers also found that WTP14adbjsh's galaxy is a young, active star-producing galaxy (star-forming galaxy), while previously discovered tidal tearing events occurred mainly in quiet galaxies. Scientists predict that tidal tearing events will then be observed in star-producing galaxies as they produce more stars that can be swallowed by black holes.

It is precisely because star-producing galaxies produce a large amount of dust, which comes from the interaction between stars near the galactic core and the stars themselves, which can be detected in the infrared band, but will block light from the core region. Astronomers cannot use traditional visible light methods to detect tidal tearing events in star-producing galaxies.

Hristos Pano Christos Panagiotou, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: "the discovery of such a tidal tearing event means that, statistically speaking, there must be some tidal tearing events that cannot be observed by traditional methods and are ignored."

Perhaps the infrared band can help us unveil these mysteries.

References:

Hubble Space Telescope spots hungry black hole twisting star into doughnut shape and chowing down on it | BBC Science Focus Magazine

Https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acc45a

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