Universe  ID: 13237

TESS Catches Its First Star-destroying Black Hole

NASA’s planet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) watched a black hole tear apart a star from start to finish, a cataclysmic phenomenon called a tidal disruption event.

The blast, named ASASSN-19bt, was found on Jan. 29 by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), a worldwide network of 20 robotic telescopes. Shortly after the discovery, ASAS-SN requested follow-up observations by NASA’s Swift satellite, ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) XMM-Newton and ground-based 1-meter telescopes in the global Las Cumbres Observatory network.

The disruption occurred in TESS’s continuous viewing zone, which is always in sight of one of the satellite’s four cameras. This allowed astronomers to view the explosion from beginning to end.
 

Used Elsewhere In


Source Material


Related


For More Information

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-tess-mission-spots-its-1st-star-shredding-black-hole


Credits

Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Lead Producer
Jeanette Kazmierczak (University of Maryland College Park): Lead Science Writer
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Animator
Barb Mattson (University of Maryland College Park): Narrator
Thomas Holoien (Carnegie Observatories): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual items should be credited as indicated above.

Science Paper:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab3c66

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13237

Mission:
TESS

This item is part of these series:
Narrated Movies
Astrophysics Animations
Astrophysics Features
Black Hole Week

Keywords:
SVS >> X-ray
SVS >> Black Hole
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> Space
SVS >> Swift
SVS >> Star
NASA Science >> Universe
SVS >> Supermassive Black Hole
SVS >> TESS