NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and ground-based telescopes observed an orphan supermassive black hole shredding a star on the outskirts of galaxy WISEA J014656.04-152214.7, 750 million light-years away.

Key Details

• First tidal disruption event confirmed so far out on a galaxy's outskirts (30,000 light-years from center)
• The supermassive black hole weighs approximately 1 million times the Sun's mass
• Initially flagged in November 2025 by an AI algorithm analyzing Zwicky Transient Facility data
• Followed up by SOAR telescope, Lowell Discovery Telescope, and Swift's UVOT and XRT instruments

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