A star survives 2 encounters with a supermassive black hole
Astronomers just spotted something wild: a star called AT 2022dbl survived not one, but two close encounters with a supermassive black hole. Each time, it gave off a bright flare—once, and then again 700 days later.
Normally, stars get totally shredded in these situations (called tidal disruption events), so this has scientists rethinking what they know.
As Iair Arcavi from Tel Aviv University put it, this discovery means "we need to change how we understand these cosmic events."
AT 2022dbl is breaking the rules
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) usually mean instant doom for stars—they get stretched out and destroyed by the black hole's gravity in a process nicknamed "spaghettification."
But AT 2022dbl is breaking the rules: it's dimmer and cooler than typical TDEs and still hanging on after two encounters.
Researchers even expect another flare by early 2026, which could teach us even more about what happens when stars tangle with black holes at the heart of galaxies.