Meet ‘Scary Barbie,’ a black hole slaughtering a star in the brightest way possible

Published

2 years ago

April 28, 2023

admin

Astronomers have detected one of the longest, brightest and most energetic cosmic objects ever observed — and they’ve named it “Scary Barbie,” in part due to its terrifying power.

The remote object, an astonishingly bright flash of light that has lasted for more than two years, was discovered lurking inside an enormous data set gathered by computer-guided telescopes.

After finding the brightly burning patch of sky in the data and cross-referencing it with observations made by other telescopes, the astronomers realized they had stumbled across one of the most powerful cosmic explosions ever witnessed. They reported their findings April 17 on the preprint server arXiv (opens in new tab) , and their paper has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Related: Black hole ‘spaghettified’ a star into a doughnut shape, and astronomers captured the gory encounter

“It’s absurd. If you take a typical supernova and multiply it a thousand times, we’re still not at how bright this is — and supernovas are among the most luminous objects in the sky,” co-author Danny Milisavljevic (opens in new tab) , an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue University, said in a statement (opens in new tab) . “This is the most energetic phenomenon I have ever encountered.”

Scary Barbie was born from the final death throes of a star being torn to shreds by a supermassive black hole.

Black holes feed upon unfortunate stars that cross their paths, using tidal forces exerted by their immense gravitational pulls. As the star is reeled ever closer to the black hole’s maw, the gravity affecting the regions of the star closer to the black hole is far stronger than that acting on the star’s farside. This disparity “spaghettifies” the star into a long, noodle-like string that gets tightly wound around the black hole layer by layer — like spaghetti around a fork.

This noodle of hot plasma then quickly accelerates around the black hole and spins out into an enormous jet of energy and matter, which produces a distinctive bright beam of light — known as a transient event — that optical, X-ray and radio-wave telescopes can detect.

Because Scary Barbie’s light came from a remote region of the sky — traveling around 7.7 billion years across the expanding fabric of space-time — astronomers didn’t spot the event directly. Instead, by developing a machine-learning system called Recommender Engine For Intelligent Transient Tracking, the researchers combed through data from many observations before finding the extremely bright light source. By using the Lick Observatory in California and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, the researchers were better able to characterize the light as coming from a transient event. related stories—1st image of our galaxy’s ‘black hole heart’ unveiled

—Black holes may be swallowing invisible matter that slows the movement of stars

—What’s the biggest black hole in the universe?

But Scary Barbie — a nickname made by appending its randomly assigned alphanumeric name, ZTF20abrbeie, with a reference to its frightening power — is weird even among other rare and extreme astronomical events. It is much brighter than any other transient event the astronomers could compare it to, and, while transient events usually last only weeks or months, Scary Barbie has already burned incandescently for more than two years, with no indication it will sputter out.

The astronomers said further observations of Scary Barbie, possibly using the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, could enable them to snap some high-resolution images of the incredibly rare cosmic outburst.

“There are few things in the universe that can be so powerful, reactions that can be this long-lived,” Milisavljevic said. “Discoveries like this really open our eyes to the fact that we are still uncovering mysteries and exploring wonders in the universe — things no one has ever seen before.”

Sports

Surging Giants call up top prospect Eldridge

Published

2 hours ago

September 16, 2025

admin

Surging Giants call up top prospect Eldridge

Alden GonzalezSep 15, 2025, 02:21 PM ET
Close

The San Francisco Giants, suddenly back in the playoff race with two weeks remaining in the regular season, called up their top prospect Bryce Eldridge, the team announced Monday.

Eldridge, a 20-year-old first baseman who was No. 29 in the latest prospect rankings by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, will seemingly fill the role vacated by fellow left-handed hitter Dominic Smith, who went on the injured list because of a hamstring strain over the weekend.

The 16th pick out of high school in 2023, Eldridge surged in Double-A at the start of the season and was slashing .249/.322/.514 with 18 homers, 88 strikeouts and 28 walks for the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate. His strikeout rate remained high of late, but his production improved over these past 17 games, during which he boasted a .294 batting average with 10 extra-base hits.

The Giants were using Rafael Devers at first base and designated hitter, with Smith and the right-handed-hitting Wilmer Flores essentially platooning at the other spot. Eldridge will be playoff eligible.

After acquiring Devers in the middle of June, the Giants went 13-22 heading into the trade deadline at the end of July, prompting the front office to deal veteran players. As of Aug. 22, the Giants were seven games below .500 and 7½ games out of the final National League wild-card spot, but they have since won 14 of 20 games and trail the slumping New York Mets by only 1½ games with 13 remaining.

Sports

Cubs activate Soroka, who will be used as reliever

Published

2 hours ago

September 16, 2025

admin

Cubs activate Soroka, who will be used as reliever

Associated Press

Sep 15, 2025, 06:06 PM ET

PITTSBURGH — The Chicago Cubs activated right-hander Michael Soroka from the 15-day injured list before Monday night’s game against Pittsburgh.

Soroka will be used as a reliever. The Cubs acquired Soroka from Washington at the trade deadline and planned to use him as a starter.

However, Soroka pitched just two innings in his Cubs debut against Cincinnati on Aug. 4 and left because of a right shoulder strain. Soroka made a rehab appearance with Triple-A Iowa and allowed one run in 2⅓ innings.

Soroka is 3-8 this season with a 4.86 ERA in 17 starts.

Right-hander Ben Brown was optioned to Iowa in a corresponding move. He is 5-8 with a 5.92 ERA in 25 games, including 15 starts.

Cubs closer Daniel Palencia threw off the mound for the first time since going on the IL on Sept. 8 because of a right shoulder strain. He has converted 22 of 25 save opportunities and has a 3.00 ERA in 52 games.

Designated hitter Seiya Suzuki was not in the lineup Monday because of bronchitis.

The Cubs hold the first wild-card position in the National League.

Environment

Enel and Mars ink a milestone Texas solar agreement

Published

2 hours ago

September 15, 2025

admin

Enel and Mars ink a milestone Texas solar agreement

Enel Mars Texas solar — Photo: Enel North America

Enel North America and food and snacks giant Mars have signed a massive clean energy deal that will power up Mars’s operations with Texas solar.

The two companies completed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the full output – all 851 megawatts (MW) – of three Texas solar farms. Together, those plants are expected to deliver 1.8 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, the equivalent of enough electricity to power 150,000 homes. That makes this Enel’s largest corporate PPA worldwide.

Michele Di Murro, CEO of Enel North America, said the deal “shows how renewables are among the fastest and most affordable solutions to meet the nation’s energy needs. Through these agreements, we’re adding clean capacity to the Texas grid while supporting a leading manufacturer’s sustainability goals.”

For Mars, the move goes beyond just greening its own factories. Kevin Rabinovitch, global VP of sustainability at Mars, explained that this PPA “lets us bring demand for all the electricity used in our value chain to the clean energy market in a highly efficient manner. The more demand we create together, the faster we can build the future we all want.”

Advertisement – scroll for more content

All three solar farms will use sheep grazing to manage vegetation, a dual-use practice Enel has scaled through the largest solar grazing agreement in the US.

The 30% federal solar tax credit is ending this year. If you’ve ever considered going solar, now’s the time to act. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.