--- title: "Watch a Black Hole Suck Down an Entire Star Like a Spaghetti Noodle" description: "My Spaghet If you’re ever having a bad day, just remember that the Sun has never drifted too close to a black hole and gotten sucked into it as a giant noodle of star stuff, like a horrible reenactment of that one scene in “Lady and the Tramp.” But that’s exactly what happened, scientists say, […]" date: "2020-10-12" modified: "2020-10-12" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/black-hole-suck-down-entire-star-spaghetti-noodle" categories: - "Astrophysics" - "Black Holes" - "Physics" - "Science & Energy" - "Space" tags: - "black hole" - "physics" - "space" - "the digest" --- # Watch a Black Hole Suck Down an Entire Star Like a Spaghetti Noodle ![Astar about 215 million light-years from Earth got too close to a black hole, and got devoured in a process that scientists call "spaghettification."]() *\Image: Pixabay/Futurism\* ## My Spaghet If you're ever having a bad day, just remember that the Sun has never drifted too close to a black hole and gotten sucked into it like a giant noodle of star stuff, in a horrible cosmic reenactment of that [one scene]() in "Lady and the Tramp." But that's exactly what happened, scientists say, to a star about 215 million light-years from Earth. It got too close to a black hole, and got devoured in a process that scientists — we kid you not — call "spaghettification." "The idea of a black hole 'sucking in' a nearby star sounds like science fiction. But this is exactly what happens in a tidal disruption event," said lead author Matt Nicholl, a lecturer and Royal Astronomical Society research fellow at the University of Birmingham, in a [statement about the finding](). "We were able to investigate in detail what happens when a star is eaten by such a monster." ## Noodling Around As the star material fell into the black hole, according to observations from instruments at the European Southern Observatory, much of it blasted back outwards in a pair of extraordinary jets facing in opposite directions. The team, who [published their findings]() in the journal *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society*, even created a simulation of what the horrific event would look like from up close. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKCp-1OGGP4 ## Ragù Shift Chillingly, the researchers say, the star that was devoured in the event was similar in size to our own — though the black hole that ate it was flabbergastingly more massive. "The observations showed that the star had roughly the same mass as our own Sun, and that it lost about half of that to the black hole, which is over a million times more massive," said Nicholl in the statement. **READ MORE:** [Death by spaghettification: Scientists record last moments of star devoured by black hole]() \[University of Birmingham\] **More on black holes:** [*Researchers: Some Black Holes May Contain a “Fractal Universe”*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()