At https://phys.org/news/2025-07-star-survived-black-hole.html … researchers observed a flare thought to show a star falling into a black hole and being destroyed in the process. However, the star seemed to survive and went on its merry way. Loath to abandon the Black Hole model the scientists suggest such spectacular flares issuing forth from what are thought to be black holes at the heart of galaxies, may not be quite as hungry as once thought. They had a bite of the cherry and will take another bite when the star returns.
These encounters are known as tidal disruption events. Mainstream thinking is that black holes lie at the heart of all galaxies. They are black for a reason. Put quite simiply, they are black because they cannot be seen – or verified. Gravity is so dense not even light can escape – but this star did. On two occasions.
When swallowing a star it is thought the black hole flares as material is heated and consumed internally. Stars and flares have not been behaving as expected. Not as black holes should per the model. The brilliance was less that predicted, it would seem. The study concerns activity involving a single star. The black hole produced one flare in 2022 and a second in 2024. The star survived and cosmologists are wondering if it will be consumed when it next returns, in 2026. So, it is assumed black holes are on meal break when a flare issues forth from the heart of a galaxy. What other reason might there be for a brilliant flare to show up on telescopes?
At https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/07/astronomers-just-unveiled-a-mysterious-object-in-the-outer-solar-system-and-its-locked-in-a-dance-with-neptune/ … the outer solar system is being searched for Planet 9 – but they keep finding small bodies.