Supermassive Black Holes Could Strip Stars Down to their Helium Cores

We all know that black holes can devour stars. Rip them apart and consume their remnants. But that only happens if a star passes too close to a black hole. What if a star gets close enough to a star to experience strong tidal effects, but not close enough to be immediately devoured? This scenario is considered in a recent paper on the arXiv.

Apr 9, 2025 - 01:07
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Supermassive Black Holes Could Strip Stars Down to their Helium Cores

Supermassive Black Holes Could Strip Stars Down to their Helium Cores

We all know that black holes can devour stars. Rip them apart and consume their remnants. But that only happens if a star passes too close to a black hole. What if a star gets close enough to a star to experience strong tidal effects, but not close enough to be immediately devoured? This scenario is considered in a recent paper on the arXiv.