US EditionDistant black hole flare as bright as 10 trillion suns, researchers say
- On Nov 4, 2025, researchers announced the brightest supermassive black hole flare, shining with the light of 10 trillion suns and first spotted in 2018 by the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar Observatory.
- Analysis points to a tidal disruption event in which the ill-fated star was shredded by Active Galactic Nucleus J2245+3743.
- The observations show it brightened by a factor of 40 over a few months, peaked at 30 times previous luminosity, and has been decaying for years since.
- Scientists say the event will remain observable for a few years, and researchers expect ground-based telescopes to aid study while teams conduct ZTF archival searches and await Vera C. Rubin Observatory data.
- From about 10 billion light-years away, cosmological time dilation stretches light and time, making long-term surveys like ZTF crucial to spotting distant phenomena in the young universe.
148 Articles
148 Articles
'Unlike any we've ever seen': Record-breaking black hole eruption is brighter than 10 trillion suns
Astronomers spotted a flaring black hole that may be consuming a star at least 30 times more massive than the sun. At its peak, the flare was brighter than 10 trillion stars.
A black hole, when a star was torn apart, created the brightest outburst of light that has ever been observed – as bright as ten trillion suns.
Observatory spots biggest, most distant black hole flare ever recorded
The flare, co-discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility, may be the result of a mega black-hole meal The most massive stars in the universe are destined to explode as brilliant supernova before collapsing into black holes. Yet one huge star appears to have never fulfilled its destiny; in a twist of irony, the star wandered too close to a gargantuan black hole, which gobbled it up, shredding the star to bits and pieces. That is the most likely …
Brightest supermassive black hole flare observed, shining like 10 trillion suns
(UPDATE) NEW YORK — Scientists have spotted the brightest flare yet from a supermassive black hole that shines with the light of 10 trillion suns.These bursts of light and energy can come from things like tangled-up magnetic fields or hiccups in the heated gas disks surrounding black holes. The flares help illuminate researchers’ understanding of the black holes within.The latest cosmic display was spotted in 2018 by a camera at the Palomar Obse…
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