When a massive star runs out of fuel, its core collapses, forming a dense object while the remaining gas is expelled outward in a phenomenon known as a supernova.

The consequences usually result in neutron stars or black holes. Recently, Hubble may have captured the moment a black hole took over a supernova event when it suddenly shut down.

Although some supernova events leave clouds of debris that can persist for thousands of years, like SN 1054, the star in question began to explode before all its gas was sucked into the black. hole in the center. This occurs when the collapse of the star’s core is extremely massive, causing gas to collapse directly into the core instead of exploding outward.

Only a few of these “mass failures,” as they are called, have been observed, leading astronomers to be cautious of the findings. However, the star in the galaxy NGC 6946 was so bright that it could be seen from 22 million light-years away and quickly faded, indicating that a massive stellar star This black hole was likely responsible.

The accompanying image shows an artist’s impression of a massive star imploding rather than exploding as a supernova.