HUBBLE ATLAS

Black holes

Supermassive black hole rips star apart (simulation)

December 12, 2016 · ESA/Hubble

Original on ESA/Hubble ↗

This simulation shows a star getting torn apart by the gravitational tides of a supermassive black hole. The star gets “spaghettified” and after several orbits creates an accretion disc. Scientists believe that the superluminous ASASSN-15lh event happened like that.