Of all that we can find in the universe, the black hole is undoubtedly the one that arouses the greatest fascination among ordinary mortals, with perhaps the only exception of wormholes, although it is true that the latter are still only a theory supported by general relativity yes, but a theory and it will probably be a long time before it is confirmed that they actually exist, if they do.

However, a black hole is not a theory, it is a reality observed indirectly, due to its impact on other elements or directly, as happened for the first time in 2019 in the historical image of M87. Behind the flood of memes that these images gave rise to on social networks (the similarity of the black hole to the eye of Sauron is indisputable, why deny it), we could finally see the real image, because until then we had to settle for an artistic representation, which, although visually very attractive and quite correct in their representation, they were just that, illustrations.

Now, even if we’ve seen the image of a black hole with our own eyes and know its definition by heart (you know, a part of space where the concentration of matter is so dense that the gravitational field it creates can’t be repelled), it’s difficult to assimilate it into his overall perspective. To think that there is something capable of engulfing a star, I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel how infinitely small we are. As Melchor Gaspar de Jovellanos already said: “O Lord, your sea is so big and my ship is so small”.

Now, in James Webb’s time, the veteran and still-operating Hubble has decided to reclaim its role as a formidable observatory, and thanks to one of its latest captures, NASA is sharing on its website images of a star being swallowed by a black hole. Located at the center of the galaxy ESO 583-G004, astronomers have used Hubble’s high sensitivity to ultraviolet light to study the light from the dismembered star, which contains hydrogen, carbon and more. Spectroscopy provides forensic clues to how well the black hole accounted for the now-defunct star.

As the US space agency well remembers, black holes are not hunters, they are gatherers, remaining indifferent in their position and waiting for stars, planets, meteorites, etc. to cross the event horizon. From that point on, the black hole’s extreme gravity takes care of the rest. In this case, as we can see in the images, the star began to describe an orbit around the hole, during which it leaves a trail that we can see until it is absorbed. Shortly thereafter, the matter that forms the wake will also be absorbed by the black hole.