Of all that we can find in the Universe, the black hole is undoubtedly what arouses the most fascination among ordinary mortals, perhaps with the sole exception of wormholes, although it is true that the latter are still no more than to be a theory, supported by general relativity, yes, but a theory, and it will probably still be a long time before it is confirmed that they really exist, if that is the case.
The black hole, however, is not a theory, it is a reality observed indirectly, due to its incidence on other elements or directly, as happened for the first time in 2019, with the historic image of M87. Beyond the barrage of memes that these images gave rise to on social networks (the resemblance of the black hole to Sauron’s eye is indisputable, why deny it), we could finally see a real image, because until then we had had to settle for artistic representations that, although visually very attractive and quite correct in their representation, were just that, illustrations.
Now, even having seen the image of a black hole with our own eyes, and knowing its definition by heart (you know, a portion of space in which the concentration of mass is of such high density that the gravitational field generated by it cannot be repelled), it is difficult to assimilate it in its total perspective. Thinking that there is something that is capable of swallowing a star, I don’t know about you, but it gives me a feeling of how infinitesimally tiny we are. As Melchor Gaspar de Jovellanos already said, «Oh, Lord, your sea is so big and my ship is so small».
Now, in the time of James Webb, the veteran and still operational Hubble has decided to reclaim its role as a formidable observation element and, thanks to one of its most recent captures, NASA has shared, on its website, the images of a star being swallowed by a black hole. Occurring at the center of the galaxy ESO 583-G004, astronomers took advantage of Hubble’s high ultraviolet sensitivity to study light from the shredded star, which includes hydrogen, carbon and more. The spectroscopy provides forensic clues as to how the black hole took a good account of the now-defunct star.
As the US space agency well remembers, black holes are not hunters, they are collectors that remain, impassive, in their position, waiting for stars, planets, meteorites, etc., to cross their event horizon. From that moment on, the extreme gravity of the black hole will do the rest. In this case, as we see in the images, the star began to describe an orbit around the hole, during which it leaves the trail that we can see, until it is ingested. Shortly after, the matter that makes up the wake will also end up being swallowed by the black hole.
