A black hole compared to Pacman swallowed a neutron star 900 million years ago and scientists say they’ve just detected the ‘belch’ it released.
Black holes are the super-dense remains of dead stars, some of which may have formed when neutron stars – the collapsed core of a giant star – collapses further.
Experts detected ripples in space and time from the cataclysmic event, which happened about 5,300 million trillion miles (8,550m tr km) away from Earth.
Researchers have long suspected such binary systems of black holes and neutron stars may exist but this is the first time they’ve captured evidence of it happening.
An international team of researchers, including from The Australian National University (ANU), in Canberra used the Ligo and Virgo gravitational wave detectors, based in the US and Europe respectively, to make the finding.
Scientists are still analysing the data to confirm the exact size of the two objects, but initial findings indicate the very strong likelihood of a black hole enveloping a neutron star.
‘About 900 million years ago, this black hole ate a very dense star, known as a neutron star, like Pac-man – possibly snuffing out the star instantly,’ Professor Susan Scott from the ANU, said in a written statement.
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