Astronomers have discovered a “scary Barbie” supermassive black hole destroying a massive star in a “terrifying” spaghetti event

Astronomers have discovered something very impressive Giant black hole She’s devouring a star – and they’ve given her the nickname “Frightening Barbie”, in part because of her terrifying powers. It has been described by scientists as one of the “most luminous, energetic, long-lasting fleeting objects” ever found lurking in a forgotten corner of the night sky.

Bhagya Soprayan, a graduate student at Purdue University, He said Researchers believe the black hole “grabbed a star and ripped it apart,” in a brutal process called “macaroni. The object is documented in Letters from The Astrophysical JournalIt was randomly assigned to ZTF20abrbeeie, which created its modern nickname.

While the Exodus death event remained undetected for years among other telescopic data such as the Purdue Laboratory artificial intelligence The engine — Recommendation Engine for Intelligent Transient Tracking (REFITT) — helped detect “terrifying” anomalies.

REFITT “puts out millions of alerts” to help researchers find interesting phenomena in space — but for something hidden in plain sight, like Scary Barbie, the computer didn’t have a “model” to look for.

The researchers described the event as “ridiculous”.

“If you take a typical supernova and multiply it a thousand times, we still don’t know how bright it is — and supernovae are among the brightest objects in the sky,” said Danny Milisavljevic, assistant professor of physics and astronomy. “This is the most energetic phenomenon I have ever encountered.”

A team of “supernova investigators” found that Barbie’s frightening luminosity “exceeds any theoretical or observed supernova,” leading them to classify the event as a supernova. Tidal disturbanceWhere matter from a star is blown away by a black hole.

And just as Barbie kills a new job, Scary Barbie kills the internet, spawning memes inspired by the movie’s title.

A star is described as transient, meaning it can appear, disappear, or change drastically within a few hours or days—rather than centuries or millennia. Although most transients only last weeks or months, this one lasted more than 800 days – and data shows it can be visible for several years, a duration “unlike anything we’ve seen before”. Superyan He said.

The goal is “still under development,” according to the study, and the researchers hope Continuous monitoring Use of NASA’s James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes will allow them to locate Barbie’s host galaxy.

“Discoveries like this really open our eyes to the fact that we are still unraveling the mysteries of the universe and exploring the wonders of the universe – things no one has seen before,” Milisavljevic said.