Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2025

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 These extraordinary phenomena oc- cur when massive stars—at least three times heavier than our Sun— are torn apart after wandering too close to a supermassive black hole. Their disruption releases vast amounts of energy visible across enormous distances. “We’ve ob- served stars getting ripped apart as tidal disruption events for over a decade, but these ENTs are different beasts, reaching brightnesses nearly ten times more than what we typi- cally see,” said Jason Hinkle, who led the study as the final piece of his doctoral research at the University of Hawai ‘ i’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA). “Not only are ENTs far brighter than normal tidal disruption events, but they remain luminous for years, far surpassing the energy output of even the brightest known super- nova explosions.” The immense total energy output of by Keck Observatory Meagan O’Shea The most energetic explosions since the Big Bang A stronomers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawai ‘ i Island discovered the most energetic cos- mic explosions discovered to date, naming the new class of events “ex- treme nuclear transients” (ENTs).