According to a recent study published by the European INTEGRAL space observatory, a supermassive black hole has just consumed a large planetary body somewhere in a spiral galaxy named NGC 4845.
"The observation was completely unexpected, from a galaxy that has been quiet for at least 20-30 years," said Marek Nikolajuk, lead author of the research published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
NGC 4845 is a spiral galaxy about 47 million light years away. The phenomenon was noted after an unusual "brightening" of the galaxy that reached a peak in January 2011, and slowly faded over the course of the year. It was spotted during a study on a different galaxy by the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, or INTEGRAL, and later confirmed by the ESA's XMM-Newton, NASA's Swift, and Japan's MAXI X-ray monitor on the International Space Station.
By studying the energy emissions, researchers were able to estimate that the object consumed by the black hole was roughly the mass of 14 to 30 Jupiters. The massive celestial body strayed too close to the black hole and as a result, was torn to shreds, forming an "accretion" disk around the hole's event horizon.
As the object was "eaten," huge levels of radiation were generated. The X-ray emission fluctuations over three months revealed that the object was slowly ripped apart, layer by layer, before it was swallowed entirely. If that's not scary enough, scientists estimate that the black hole is somewhere in the range of 300,000 solar masses.
"This is the first time where we have seen the disruption of a substellar object by a black hole," stated Roland Walter, co-author of the study.
Interestingly, researchers also expect to see another black hole consumption later this year. A gas cloud is expected to be eaten by a supermassive black hole near the center of our own galaxy in the coming months. We are a safe distance away from the event, but scientists are still watching it intently to see what they can learn.
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