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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Science
Donna Lu

‘Very messy eaters’: scientists solve the mystery of when black holes ‘burp’

Illustration of a black hole's glowing ring tearing apart a star with erupting debris
An illustration of a tidal disruption event, when a supermassive black hole tears apart a nearby star with its gravitational pull. Illustration: Science Communication Lab

Scientists have solved the mystery of when black holes “burp” – when the astronomical bodies launch jets after feeding on stars, blasting material enormous distances in space.

Black holes are objects so densely compact that beyond a certain point their gravity is too strong for light and matter to escape. This boundary of no return is known as the event horizon – the point at which escaping would require something to travel faster than the speed of light.

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