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Scientists have discovered the most predictable and frequent example
of flares from an active galaxy.

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When they saw the first flare, called ASASSN-14ko ...

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they thought it was the explosion of one of the galaxy’s billions of stars.

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But after analyzing years of data from multiple observatories …

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… and seeing the flares appear over and over again …

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... they now think that it’s a giant star being slowly devoured
as it orbits the galaxy’s central black hole.

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The black hole pulls gas from the star each time it passes closest,
every 114 days ...

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… and the material falls toward the black hole,
eventually striking the disk of gas surrounding it.

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That’s when the bright flares erupt.

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The star loses enough gas each orbit to make three Jupiters.

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Eventually the black hole will consume it entirely.

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Astronomers eagerly await the next flare …

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... and will continue to study this unusual process –
a black hole nibbling away at an unlucky star.