About 75 million light years from Earth is the Kinman galaxy. In it, one of the largest stars it contains (2.5 million times brighter than the Sun) it has stopped giving signs of life. Now astronomers doubt between different theories as to why and how such a massive star has suddenly disappeared. It is the “magic” of the Universe, which can surprise you with unimaginable explosions, incredibly heavy black holes or disappearances like this one.
–
–
–
In different observations made from 2001 to 2011, the star appeared in the light spectrum of the galaxy. However, in two observations made last year with the European VLT ESO telescope from the Atacama desert in Chile no longer appears. That the gigantic star disappears is not unusual, that it does so without a trace. That is why astronomers now wonder whether it has directly transformed into a black hole.
–
–
From gigantic star straight to black hole
Generally stars of a huge mass they end up as white dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes when they die. But of course, when that normally happens there is also a supernova explosion beforehand that generates an intense brightness (and some are especially large).
Kinman Galaxy. Via ESO. —
In a study published in the Royal Astronomical Society, researchers who have observed this phenomenon speculate that it may have occurred. As they comment, the star could have directly collapsed into a black hole without previously exploding supernova shape. If so, it would be the first time an event is logged as such.
There is another possibility on the table. The idea arises that the star had actually previously exploded and what we have been seeing during these years until 2011 was the explosionn itself and hence the brightness so high. All this, remember, considering that we see things that happened more than 75 million years ago.
The researchers they plan to further study this star from the Kinman galaxy soon. Or rather, once ESO’s ELT telescope is ready in 2025. This new telescope will be powerful enough to be able to observe individual stars in galaxies as far away as Kinman.
Via | New Atlas
More information | ESO and RAS
–
