The Quiet Death of a Star ⚡ экспресс
The disappearance of star M31-2014-DS1 in Andromeda is linked to the collapse of a yellow supergiant (≈12–13 M☉) into a black hole of about 5 M☉. JWST observations (2024) revealed an extremely red remnant with blueshifted molecular lines (CO, CO₂, H₂O, SO₂) and silicate dust features. The bolometric luminosity dropped to log(L/L☉)≈3.88 (≈7–8% of the original), the central source surrounded by a dust shell of radius 40–200 AU. Molecular gas (≈0.1 M☉) expands at ~100 km/s near the inner edge of the shell. X-ray emission remains undetected down to a limit LX≲1.5×10³⁵ erg/s. The data are explained by a low-energy ejection of the outer hydrogen envelope (~10⁴⁶ erg) and fading accretion of fallback material with an efficiency of ~0.1% by mass, marking the first demonstrated black hole formation via a weak explosion and long-term fallback.
In 2014, astronomers spotted a massive yellow star in the Andromeda galaxy. By 2022, it had vanished without a trace — without the usual blinding explosion of a supernova. It was as if someone simply switched off the light. Scientists suspected that the star's core quietly collapsed into a black hole, but the mystery was only solved with the latest instruments.
Thermal images from James Webb and the Chandra X-ray telescope revealed a ghostly scene. In place of the star, a dim reddish object is shrouded in a shell of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. This gas, expanding at 100 km/s, hides the central source, and the dust cloud stretches across 40–200 Earth-Sun distances — far beyond the orbit of Pluto.
The whole picture points to an incredibly weak explosion: the star didn't boom, it exhaled its outer layers before the core collapsed inward. The energy of this outburst was hundreds of times less than a typical supernova — true cosmic silence. Now the black hole barely glows (its brightness dropped to 7% of the original, and there's almost no X-ray emission) and only lazily pulls in the remaining matter. That's how some massive stars disappear without fireworks — turning into a cosmic shadow.
🎯 The cloud of this stellar 'soot' would swallow the entire Solar System with room to spare: its size is hundreds of times larger than Pluto's orbit — a true invisible smog around the newborn [tag:black_hole]black hole[/tag].