NASA, Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star

This artists rendering illustrates new findings about a star shredded by a black hole. When a star wanders too close to a black hole, intense tidal forces rip the star apart. In these events, called tidal disruptions, some of the stellar debris is flung outward at high speed while the rest falls toward the black hole. This causes a distinct Xray flare that can last for a few years. NASAs Chandra Xray Observatory, Swift Gammaray Burst Explorer, and ESA, NASAs XMMNewton collected different pieces of t