Astronomers have observed what may be the first known case of a massive star exploding while interacting with a black hole, marking a discovery that could reveal an entirely new class of stellar explosions.
The event, named SN 2023zkd, was first spotted in July 2023 by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California. Located in a galaxy with little ongoing star formation about 730 million light-years away, it was detected by a new artificial intelligence (AI) system built to flag unusual cosmic events in real time. The early alert allowed telescopes worldwide and in space to begin observations immediately, capturing the event from its earliest stages, according to a statement.
