Hubble may have captured birth of a black hole
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.0210098
New Scientist : The first observational evidence of a black hole forming may have been detected by the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2009 a red supergiant star, N6946-BH1, about 20 million light-years from Earth, was observed to flare brightly for several months before fading away. Although the star’s disappearance could be explained by its having merged with another star or being hidden by dust, the flaring didn’t last long enough, and dust should have dissipated by now. The most likely explanation, say Christopher Kochanek of the Ohio State University and colleagues, is that the massive star went supernova and then began collapsing in on itself and forming a black hole. If so, the material being sucked into the black hole should emit x rays, which the researchers hope to detect with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
