Massive stars eventually explode in a magnificent supernova, after which they explode. Scientists discovered that certain big stars have just departed, leaving no trace in the night sky.
A recent study published in Physical Review Letters conducted by an international team under the direction of astronomer Alejandro Vigna-Gómez from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany and the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark reveals that certain massive stars die quietly rather than with a massive explosion.
They discovered VFTS 243, a binary system in the Large Magellanic Cloud that includes a black hole and a companion star. According to current theories, the birth of the black hole should have been preceded by a supernova explosion, yet this system exhibits none.
“Were one to stand gazing up at a visible star going through a total collapse, it might, just at the right time, be like watching a star suddenly extinguish and disappear from the heavens,” Vigna-Gómez said.
“The collapse is so complete that no explosion occurs, nothing escapes and one wouldn’t see any bright supernova in the night sky. Astronomers have actually observed the sudden disappearance of brightly shining stars in recent times. We cannot be sure of a connection, but the results we have obtained from analyzing VFTS 243 has brought us much closer to a credible explanation,” Vigna-Gómez added.
When a star with a mass more than around 8 times that of the Sun goes supernova, the results are very chaotic. A black hole, neutron star, or ultradense object is created when the core of a star collapses due to gravity, depending on the mass of the initial star.
The VFTS 243 system is quite intriguing. It is made up of a giant star that is around 25 times the mass of the Sun and 7.4 million years old, as well as a black hole that is roughly 10 times as big.
Although we can’t see the black hole directly, we can estimate it using the orbital velocity of its partner star and deduce additional information about the system.
A increasing amount of data points to the possibility that huge stars might occasionally fall straight into black holes without going through a supernova or earning 200 space dollars. The strongest evidence for this scenario is found in VFTS 243.
“Our results highlight VFTS 243 as the best observable case so far for the theory of stellar black holes formed through total collapse, where the supernova explosion fails and which our models have shown to be possible,” says astrophysicist Irene Tamborra of the Niels Bohr Institute.
(With inputs from agencies)
Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
