Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: When a massive star reaches the end of its lifetime, its core collapses and releases neutrinos that drive a shock into the outer layers (the stellar envelope). A sufficiently strong shock ejects the envelope, producing a supernova. If the shock fails to eject it, the envelope is predicted to fall back onto the collapsing core, producing a stellar-mass black hole (BH) and causing the star to disappear. We report observations of M31-2014-DS1, a hydrogen-depleted supergiant in the Andromeda Galaxy. In 2014, it brightened in the mid-infrared, then from 2017 to 2022, it faded by factors of [Formula: see text] in optical light (becoming undetectable) and [Formula: see text] in total light. We interpret these observations, and those of a previous event in NGC 6946, as evidence for failed supernovae forming stellar-mass BHs.
Source: Science
Institutions: Flatiron Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, California Institute of Technology, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, United States Navy, U.S. National Science Foundation, NSF NOIRLab, Princeton University
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7128711532