Astronomers Report The Biggest Black Hole Flare Ever Seen, With Light Of 10 Trillion Suns

Astronomers have detected the brightest black hole flare ever recorded, an event that shone with the energy of 10 trillion suns after a supermassive black hole began devouring a large star, Space.com reported. "This is really a one-in-a-million object," said lead author Matthew Graham, a research professor of astronomy at the California Institute of Technology.

The observed black hole flare is believed to be the largest and most distant one ever recorded, coming from 10 billion light-years away. This phenomenon occurred when a massive star, estimated to be at least 30 times the mass of our sun, wandered too close to a supermassive black hole and was torn apart, releasing an enormous amount of energy.

According to Graham, the massive outburst's intensity and duration point to a black hole flare as the most plausible explanation. Further studies will help confirm the findings. While black holes regularly consume nearby matter, an event of this magnitude is extremely rare, Graham noted.

"This massive flare is just so much more energetic than anything we've ever seen before," he said, adding that at its peak, the outburst was 30 times more luminous than any previous black hole flare seen to date.

The extraordinary intensity of the event is partly attributed to the enormous size of the two cosmic objects involved. The star, estimated to be at least 30 times the mass of the sun, was consumed by a supermassive black hole with a mass 500 million times that of the sun. The resulting outburst, which began over seven years ago, is likely still ongoing.

Initially detected in 2018 during a sky survey using three ground-based telescopes, the flare was noted as an exceptionally bright object. However, follow-up observations months later yielded limited information.

It wasn't until 2023 that distance measurements and observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii revealed the flare's true luminosity. Graham noted that upon realising its distance, the team was surprised, thinking, "If it's that far away and still this bright, the energy output must be enormous." This realisation sparked their interest, making them consider the phenomenon unusual and very interesting.

Graham noted that the discovery sheds new light on black hole behaviour, offering valuable insights into these mysterious cosmic phenomena.

"There was this classic image that most galaxies in the universe have a supermassive black hole in the middle and it just sits there and burbles along and that's it," said Graham. "Now we know it's a much more dynamic environment and we're only beginning to scratch the surface."