06-30-2020, 06:32 PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53235909
Astronomers have been baffled by the disappearance of a massive star they had been observing.
They now wonder whether the distant object collapsed to form a black hole without exploding in a supernova.
If correct, it would be the first example of such a huge stellar object coming to the end of its life in this manner.
But there is another possibility, the study in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reports.
The object's brightness might have dipped because it is partially obscured by dust.
Well, this is weird . It's odd that it would disappear without going supernova... but, since the star is too far away to observe directly, we wouldn't necessarily have noticed the explosion if it had!
Then again, it might not be a supernova. I guess aliens might have gobbled it up .
Astronomers have been baffled by the disappearance of a massive star they had been observing.
They now wonder whether the distant object collapsed to form a black hole without exploding in a supernova.
If correct, it would be the first example of such a huge stellar object coming to the end of its life in this manner.
But there is another possibility, the study in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reports.
The object's brightness might have dipped because it is partially obscured by dust.
Well, this is weird . It's odd that it would disappear without going supernova... but, since the star is too far away to observe directly, we wouldn't necessarily have noticed the explosion if it had!
Then again, it might not be a supernova. I guess aliens might have gobbled it up .