As a rule, astronomers believe that stars have to explode in a supernova before they collapse into black holes. That violent death is always the cue, right? Not necessarily. Researchers have spotted a massive star 22 million light years away, N6946-BH1, that appears to have skipped the supernova step entirely -- it brightened slightly and just disappeared. Checks have ruled out a dimmed star or dust. And this probably isn't a one-off incident, either. Ohio State University's Christopher Kochanek tells NASA that 10 to 30 percent of massive stars might die in failed supernovae.
Stars can turn into black holes without a supernova
Our assumptions about star death might be misguided.
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The discovery could improve our understanding of how supermassive black holes form. It didn't entirely make sense that stars would eject so much mass and then become a gigantic anomaly. It would be more logical for the star to use its existing mass for a head start, so to speak. This also helps explain why scientists haven't seen as many supernovae as they would if every gigantic star went out with a bang. While it's a little disconcerting to realize that some stars might vanish without any drama, this finding might just solve a number of cosmic mysteries.
