NASA的Swift卫星观测到一个超大质量黑洞撕裂并吞噬一颗恒星，产生的强烈辐射事件照亮了距地球约7.5亿光年的星空[1]。这个黑洞质量约为太阳的100万倍，但位置异常——距其宿主星系中心超过30000光年[1]，使其成为一个在星系外围游荡的"流浪"黑洞。
该潮汐瓦解事件在紫外光波段产生的耀斑峰值辐射相当于约10亿个太阳的亮度，暂时超过了整个宿主星系的光度[1]。Swift卫星的紫外成像望远镜测得耀斑温度约为30000摄氏度[1]。黑洞首次被怀疑存在于2025年11月[1]，相关研究成果已于2026年7月27日发表在《天体物理学杂志通讯》上[1]。
研究人员通过搜索这类恒星撕裂事件来识别隐藏在星系核外的超大质量黑洞[1]。这一发现展现了观测天体物理现象的新途径——利用由Zwicky瞬变设施等巡天项目每晚检测到的约50万个闪光事件[1]，来揭示宇宙中这些神秘天体的存在。
NASA's Swift space observatory has detected a rogue supermassive black hole tearing apart and consuming a star located more than 30,000 light-years from the center of its host galaxy [1]. The tidal disruption event generated a flare that temporarily outshone the entire host galaxy in ultraviolet light, with peak radiation equivalent to approximately 10 billion suns [1]. The black hole has an estimated mass of about 1 million times that of the Sun [1], and the host galaxy itself lies approximately 750 million light-years from Earth [1].
The flare was first suspected to originate from a wandering black hole in November 2025, and findings from the research were published on July 27, 2026, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters [1]. According to researcher Robert Stein, "We are searching for these star-tearing events as a method to find invisible supermassive black holes roaming outside galactic nuclei" [1]. Temperature measurements taken by Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope revealed the flare reached approximately 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit (30,000 degrees Celsius) [1]. The discovery was made possible through the Zwicky Transient Facility, which detects roughly 500,000 transient events each night [1].