The death of a star at the hands of a massive black hole in a galaxy 650 million light-years away has surprised astronomers, for not only taking place outside the center of the galaxy, where massive black holes usually lurk, but also for launching two high-energy outflows months after the star's destruction.
When a star becomes caught in the vice-like gravitational grip of a massive black hole, tidal forces set about stretching and tearing the star apart. Such events, referred to as "tidal disruption events," or TDEs, are relatively common. They liberate a huge amount of energy as the star is ripped apart and its remains form a disk of debris around the black hole.
