Astronomers witness a star disappearing from the universe
A huge star called M31-2014-DS1, about 2.5 million light-years away in the Andromeda galaxy, has basically vanished from view.
The star brightened in 2015 in mid-infrared light, then faded roughly a year later (around 2016).
NASA's NEOWISE and other telescopes have been tracking this strange behavior.
Star's optical brightness plummeted
The star's optical brightness eventually dropped dramatically and it disappeared from view. Even its infrared glow faded dramatically and mostly disappeared in 2016.
This wasn't necessarily just a dusty cover-up—the whole star may have lost energy.
Core collapsed into black hole
Unlike what you'd expect with massive stars, there was no big supernova explosion.
Instead, astronomers think the core collapsed straight into a black hole and left behind only a faint shell of dust and gas—barely visible at all.
Similar case in another galaxy back in 2009
Back in 2009, another galaxy saw something similar with a star called N6946-BH1—it too vanished without an explosive ending.
These cases are making scientists rethink how some black holes form since these stars weren't even as massive as usual for such events.