英语分级阅读 · Level 2 · science · 约 283 词
NASA Finds Rare Black Hole Eating a Star Far From Galaxy Center
NASA's Swift Observatory saw a rare event where a black hole far outside a galaxy's core tore apart a star, helping scientists find more wandering black holes.
NASA scientists recently discovered a rare black hole eating a star far from the center of a galaxy. This event was observed by NASA's Swift Observatory, a space telescope that has been watching the sky for more than twenty years. The discovery is important because black holes usually live in the very center of galaxies. Finding one far away helps astronomers understand how these mysterious objects move through space.
The event, called a tidal disruption event, happened when a black hole's strong gravity pulled a star apart. The black hole is very large, weighing about one million times the mass of the Sun. It is located more than 30,000 light-years away from its galaxy's center. The galaxy itself is about 750 million light-years from Earth. When the star was torn apart, it became incredibly bright, shining with the light of about 10 billion suns.
Scientists first noticed this event in November 2025. The Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar Observatory used a smart computer program to find the bright flash. Then, the Swift Observatory studied the event in detail. Its instruments measured the temperature at about 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This confirmed that a black hole was destroying a star.
This discovery is special because, before 2024, scientists only saw these events in galaxy cores. Now, they know black holes can wander far away. Researchers believe this black hole came from a different galaxy that joined with the current one. The finding validates a new method to find invisible wandering black holes. In the future, telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will use this technique to find more events. This helps us learn more about the universe.
中文参考
NASA 的科学家们最近发现了一个罕见的黑洞，它正在吞噬一颗远离星系中心的恒星。这一事件由 NASA 的 Swift 天文台观测到，这是一颗已经观测天空二十多年的太空望远镜。这一发现很重要，因为黑洞通常生活在星系的正中心。在远处发现一个黑洞有助于天文学家理解这些神秘物体如何在太空中移动。
这一事件被称为潮汐瓦解事件，发生在黑洞的强大引力将一颗恒星撕碎时。这个黑洞非常巨大，质量约为太阳的一百万倍。它距离其星系中心超过 30,000 光年。星系本身距离地球约 7.5 亿光年。当恒星被撕碎时，它变得极其明亮，发出的光相当于约 100 亿个太阳。
科学家们最早在 2025 年 11 月注意到了这一事件。帕洛马天文台的兹威基瞬变设施使用了一个智能计算机程序来发现这个明亮的闪光。随后，Swift 天文台对这一事件进行了详细研究。它的仪器测量出温度约为 54,000 华氏度。这证实了一个黑洞正在摧毁一颗恒星。
这一发现很特别，因为在 2024 年之前，科学家们只在星系核心看到过这类事件。现在，他们知道黑洞可以漫游到很远的地方。研究人员认为这个黑洞来自一个与当前星系合并的不同星系。这一发现验证了一种寻找隐形漫游黑洞的新方法。未来，像 Vera C. Rubin 天文台和 Nancy Grace Roman 太空望远镜这样的望远镜将使用这种技术来发现更多事件。这有助于我们更多地了解宇宙。