Most distant detection of a black hole swallowing a star

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Most distant detection of a black hole swallowing a star

Earlier this year, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) was alerted after an unusual source of visible light had been detected by a survey telescope. The VLT, together with other telescopes, was swiftly repositioned toward the source: a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy that had devoured a star, expelling the leftovers in a jet. The VLT determined it to be the furthest example of such an event to have ev…