In a discovery that defies expectations, astronomers have observed the fastest and brightest radio flares ever produced by a black hole devouring a star — and it happened far from the center of its galaxy.

For the first time, researchers have identified a tidal disruption event (TDE) — when a black hole tears apart a passing star — occurring well outside a galactic core. The rare outburst, named AT 2024tvd, challenges the long-held belief that supermassive black holes remain anchored at the heart of galaxies. Instead, it suggests these cosmic giants can wander and stay active in unexpected regions of space.

Figure 1. Supermassive Black Hole.

The event’s intense and rapidly changing radio waves point to new, unexplored mechanisms governing how black holes eject material long after consuming a star. The discovery was led by Dr. Itai Safadi and Prof. Raffaella Margutti of the University of California, Berkeley, in collaboration with an international team that included Prof. Assaf Horesh from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Figure 1 shows Supermassive Black Hole.

“This is truly extraordinary,” said Dr. Sfaradi, lead author of the study. “We’ve never seen such bright, rapidly evolving radio emission from a black hole destroying a star — and certainly not one located this far from a galaxy’s center. It forces us to rethink how and where supermassive black holes can exist.”

Prof. Horesh, Sfaradi’s former graduate advisor, added, “It’s one of the most remarkable discoveries I’ve been involved in — and even more meaningful to see it led by my former student. It’s another milestone placing Israel at the forefront of global astrophysics.”

A Black Hole Far from Home

Tidal disruption events occur when a star strays too close to a massive black hole and is ripped apart by its gravity [1]. In this case, the black hole sits around 2,600 light-years (0.8 kiloparsecs) from the galaxy’s nucleus — clear evidence that supermassive black holes can exist well beyond galactic centers.

Radio Telescopes Reveal the Mystery

The finding was made possible through observations from several of the world’s top radio observatories — including the Very Large Array (VLA), ALMA, ATA, SMA, and the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array (AMI-LA) in the UK.

The Hebrew University team’s AMI data proved pivotal in tracking the event’s unusually fast-evolving radio signals — the quickest ever recorded from a TDE. The data revealed two distinct radio flares, evolving more rapidly than any previously known event.

These results suggest that powerful outflows of material were launched from the black hole months after the star’s destruction, pointing to a delayed, multi-phase process. Modeling shows at least two separate ejection episodes, revealing that black holes can periodically “reignite” — awakening from apparent dormancy long after a cataclysmic feast.

Reference:

1. https://scitechdaily.com/truly-extraordinary-supermassive-black-hole-found-in-the-last-place-scientists-expected/

Cite this article:

Keerthana S (2025), “An Astonishing Discovery” – Scientists Detect a Supermassive Black Hole Where None Was Expected, AnaTechMaz, pp.561