Black hole news: Usually, when stars about eight times larger than the Sun reach the end of their existence, there is a terrible explosion, which is called a supernova.

Black hole news: Usually, when stars about eight times larger than the Sun reach the end of their existence, there is a terrible explosion, which is called a supernova. However, a star was found that has turned into a black hole without being a supernova.

Stars about eight times larger than the Sun become supernovas when they reach the end of their life. Supernovae are terrible explosions in stars that leave a black hole or neutron star behind. The brightness of supernova explosions is so strong that it can fade the brightness of its galaxies for months. Surprisingly, scientists have discovered a huge star that did not explode and turned directly into a black hole.

The star did not explode, it became a black hole directly

New research suggests that a giant star in the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy (M31) did not explode as a supernova. The research is titled 'Disappearance of a massive star in M31 marks the birth of a black hole'. Its lead author is Kishale Dey, a postdoctoral scholar at MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

The star that scientists saw directly turning into a black hole is M31-2014-DS1. In 2014, its brightness was noticed in mid-infrared. For the next 1000 days, it continued to shine. Then between 2016 and 2019, for the next 1000 days, its glow started to fade dramatically. Now scientists have discovered that about 98% of the star mass was lost and a black hole with about 6.5 solar masses was formed.

Such supernovae are rare, questions raised on understanding

Such supernovae are called type-II or core-collapse supernovae. They are rare in the universe and such a supernova occurs once every 100 years in the Milky Way. Scientists are interested in supernovae because they cause many heavy elements. Shockwaves of supernovae can start forming stars. They emit cosmic rays that can reach the earth. New research suggests that we may not know supernovae very well.