For my next trick, I will make a STAR… DISAPPEAR?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
At the end of their lives, massive stars typically EXPLODE before forming black holes. BUT is that always the case?
Enter Kishalay De [KEE-shih-lee DAY] and team at M-I-T. They analyzed telescope images for stars changing in brightness over several years.
And? In the Andromeda Galaxy, they observed a star brighten over three years. Then, it dimmed over the next five years until it was undetectable!
They suspect that the star exhausted its fuel and collapsed, forming a black hole.
The kicker? It became a black hole WITHOUT exploding!
Some stars don’t go out with a bang. They just… vanish. Like Baby Jane.
Reference: Kishalay De et al., Disappearance of a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy due to formation of a black hole.Science 391,689-693(2026).DOI:10.1126/science.adt4853