Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

LordRobin------RM t1_j27s8do wrote

Reply to comment by PhobosDown in Black hole question by Impossible_Pop620

Wow, has this been observed?

2

PhobosDown t1_j29t44q wrote

Tidal disruptions have been, yes. They are also simulated in supercomputers and they were predicted decades before they were observed!

The direct “swallowing” of a star by a billion solar mass black hole has not been observed. One way to think about it is this event would just involve the center of the galaxy decreasing in brightness by 1 star’s worth, whereas a tidal disruption event is like fireworks - a lot of energy gets released and if we happen to have a telescope checking on that galaxy at least every few weeks, we’ll see it.

2

LordRobin------RM t1_j2c1e4h wrote

Right, now that I take the time to think about it, a “swallowing” wouldn’t look exciting at all, even observed from within the galaxy. The doomed star’s light would just red-shift as it approached until the wavelength was unobservable.

2