Researchers have determined the timing of jets released by black holes following their consumption of nearby stars, resolving a long-standing question in astrophysics. According to Dr Adelle Goodwin of Curtin University, black holes behave as inefficient feeders, with roughly half of a disrupted star escaping back into space rather than crossing the event horizon. When stars venture too close to black holes, they undergo a process called spaghettification before being partially consumed, with the remaining material ejected in powerful outflows capable of affecting entire galaxies.
The mystery of jet timing—sometimes occurring within a year of a star’s destruction and other times taking several years—has puzzled astronomers. A new study published in Nature Astronomy examined 20 tidal disruption events, using radio telescope observations to track jets as they expanded outward. The research identified a clear pattern: supermassive black holes fire jets during two distinct phases of their feeding cycle—first during periods of extremely high consumption rates, and second hundreds to thousands of days after stellar disruption when the feeding rate drops to approximately 2 percent of maximum capacity.
The findings reveal that this threshold behavior mirrors previously documented patterns in stellar-mass black holes, which are significantly smaller objects ranging from 10 to 50 times the sun’s mass. The consistency across different black hole sizes suggests a universal principle governing jet release. Dr Goodwin indicated that the discovery enables more precise predictions of jet timing, potentially allowing astronomers to optimize telescope scheduling and observation windows. The research also opens pathways for future investigations into jet strength and its relationship to black hole properties, advancing understanding of some of the universe’s most extreme objects.
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