In 2009, astronomers were tracking a massive star, about 25 times the Sun’s mass, expecting it to go supernova. Instead, it just… disappeared. No explosion, no bright flash—just gone. The best explanation? It collapsed directly into a black hole. Normally, a dying star releases energy as a final supernova before collapsing, but this one might have been so massive that gravity won instantly, swallowing the entire star before it could put on a show. If that’s true, there could be black holes out there forming in total silence.
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