Astronomers have discovered a black hole has torn apart a star (a phenomenon called a tidal disruption event, or TDE) in a surprising location, as described in this press release. This event occurred about 2,600 light-years away from the center of the black hole’s host galaxy, indicating the presence of a second large black hole. Most TDEs have been detected at the centers of galaxies where supermassive black holes are usually found.

A TDE happens when an infalling star is stretched or “spaghettified” by a black hole’s immense gravitational tidal forces. The shredded stellar remnants are pulled into a circular orbit around the black hole. This generates shocks and outflows with high temperatures that can be seen in ultraviolet and visible light. X-rays are produced when material from the destroyed star falls toward the black hole and is heated to millions of degrees.

Astronomers have discovered a likely explanation for a fracture in a huge cosmic “bone” in the Milky Way galaxy, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes.

The bone appears to have been struck by a fast-moving, rapidly spinning neutron star, or pulsar. Neutron stars are the densest known stars and form from the collapse and explosion of massive stars. They often receive a powerful kick from these explosions, sending them away from the explosion’s location at high speeds.

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3D Models
Model Credit: INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo/Salvatore Orlando

New three-dimensional (3D) models of objects in space have been released by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. These 3D models allow people to explore — and print — examples of stars in the early and end stages of their lives. They also provide scientists with new avenues to investigate scientific questions and find insights about the objects they represent.

These 3D models are based on state-of-the-art theoretical models, computational algorithms, and observations from space-based telescopes like Chandra that give us accurate pictures of these cosmic objects and how they evolve over time.

However, looking at images and animations is not the only way to experience this data. The four new 3D printable models of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), G292.0+1.8 (G292), Cygnus Loop supernova remnants, and the star known as BP Tau let us experience the celestial objects in the form of physical structures that will allow anyone to hold replicas of these stars and their surroundings and examine them from all angles.

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'Pillars of Creation' Over Time
Credit: 1995: Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/ASU/J.Hester & P.Scowen; 2015/2018:
X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/M.Guarcello et al., Optical: NASA/STScI; 2023/2024: X-ray: NASA/CXO/SAO,
Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, Image processing: L. Frattare;
Sonification: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)

Nearly 30 years ago, in 1995, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured an image that would become one of the most recognizable in astronomy: towering columns of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, sculpted by intense stellar winds and radiation. Dubbed the “Pillars of Creation,” this image reshaped how we visualize star formation, appearing everywhere from textbooks to T-shirts.

But the story of the Pillars didn’t end there. Over the decades, astronomers have returned to this region with Hubble and more telescopes, peeling back new layers of its story. Earlier in its mission, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory looked for the high-energy signatures of young stars inside the Pillars themselves, revealing that massive newborn stars—thought to be actively forming inside the Pillars—were surprisingly absent. This raised the question: are the Pillars past their star-forming prime since young stars are usually strong X-ray sources? Chandra's sharp X-ray vision does allow it to identify hundreds of very young stars in the region and others still in the process of forming (known as "protostars").