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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Super-massive black hole caught shredding a star to pieces for the first time

A stunning cosmic jet from a super-massive black hole which shredded then swallowed a star has been observed by astronomers for the first time.

The extremely rare phenomenon caused by stellar debris being consumed by the hole has never been observed before.

Known as 'relativistic jets', they can reach hundreds of thousands of light years in length.

Stunning: Plasma shoots out of the black hole after it devoured a star. The event took place four billion light years from Earth

Stunning: This illustration shows plasma shooting out of the black hole after it devours a star. Such an event took place four billion light years from Earth

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2029731/Super-massive-black-hole-caught-shredding-star-pieces-time.html#ixzz1W367495c

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