Abstract
Stars in galactic nuclei can be captured or tidally disrupted by a central black hole. Some debris would be ejected at high speed', the remainder would be swallowed by the hole, causing a bright flare lasting at most a few years. Such phenomena are compatible with the presence of 106–108 M⊙ holes in the nuclei of many nearby galaxies. Stellar disruption may have interesting consequences in our own Galactic Centre if a ∼106 M⊙ hole lurks there.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hills, J. G. Nature 254, 295–298 (1975).
Hills, J. G. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 182, 517–530 (1978).
Frank, J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 184, 87–99 (1978).
Young, P. J., Shields, G. A. & Wheeler, J. C. Astrophys. J. 212, 367–382 (1977).
Tonry, J. Astrophys. J. 283, L27–L30 (1984).
Dressler, A. Astrophys. J. 286, 97–105 (1984).
Kormendy, J. in Elliptical Galaxies (ed. de Zeeuw, T.) 17–36 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1987).
Kormendy, J. Astrophys. J. 325, 128–141 (1988).
Dressler, A. & Richstone, D. O. Astrophys. J. 324, 701–713 (1988).
Lynden-Bell, D. & Rees, M. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 152, 461–475 (1971).
Serabyn, E. & Lacy, J. H. Astrophys. J. 293, 445–458 (1985).
Lo, K. Y. Science 233, 1394–1400 (1986).
Genzel, R. & Townes, C. H. A. Rev. Astr. Astrophys. 25, 377–423 (1987).
Ozernoi, L. M. in Large Scale Characteristics of the Galaxy (ed. Burton, W. B.) 395–400 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1979).
Gurzadyan, V. G. & Ozernoi, L. M. Astr. Astrophys. 86, 315–320 (1980).
Gurzadyan, V. G. & Ozernoi, L. M. Astr. Astrophys. 95, 39–45 (1981).
Bahcall, J. N. & Wolf, R. A. Astrophys. J. 209, 214–232 (1976).
Frank, J. & Rees, M. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 176, 633–647 (1976).
Lightman, A. P. & Shapiro, S. L. Astrophys. J. 211, 244–262 (1977).
Young, P. J. Astrophys. J. 242, 1232–1237 (1980).
Hills, J. G. Nature 331, 687–689 (1988).
Fabian, A. C., Pringle, J. E. & Rees, M. J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 172, 15P–18P (1975).
Press, W. H. & Teukolsky, S. A. Astrophys. J. 213, 183–192 (1977).
Lee, H-M. & Ostriker, J. P. Astrophys. J. 310, 176–188 (1986).
Carter, B. & Luminet, J. P. Nature 296, 211–214 (1982).
Lacy, J. H., Townes, C. H. & Hollenbach, D. J. Astrophys. J. 262, 120–134 (1982).
Rees, M. J. in The Milky Way Galaxy (eds van Woerden, H. et al.) 379–383 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1985).
Frank, J. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 187, 883–904 (1979).
Luminet, J. P. & Carter, B. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 61, 219–248 (1986).
Luminet, J. P. in Gravitation in Astrophysics (eds Carter, B. and Hartle, J. B.) 215–228 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1987).
Luminet, J. P. & Marck, J.-A. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 212, 56–75 (1985).
Young, P. J. Astrophys. J. 212, 227–233 (1977).
Rees, M. J. in The Galactic Center (eds Riegler, G. R. & Blandford, R. D.) 166–176 (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1982).
Allen, D. A. & Sanders, R. H. Nature 319, 191–194 (1986).
Bailey, M. E. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 190, 217–225 (1980).
Backer, D. C. & Sramek, R. A. in The Galactic Center (ed. Backer, D. C.) 163–165 (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1987).
Reynolds, S. P. & McKee, C. F. Astrophys. J. 239, 893–897 (1980).
Kardashev, N. S., Novikov, I. D., Polnarev, A. G. & Stern, B. E. in Positron-Electron Pairs in Astrophysics (eds Burns, M. L. et al.) 253–266 (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1985).
Ozernoi, L. M. in The Galactic Center (ed. Backer, D. C.) 181–183 (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1987).
Rees, M. J. in The Galactic Center (ed. Backer, D. C.) 71–78 (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1987).
Thomas, P. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 220, 949–969 (1986).
Begelman, M. C. Nature 322, 614–615 (1986).
Fabian, A. C. & Canizares, C. R. Nature (submitted).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rees, M. Tidal disruption of stars by black holes of 106–108 solar masses in nearby galaxies. Nature 333, 523–528 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/333523a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/333523a0
This article is cited by
-
Stream–disk shocks as the origins of peak light in tidal disruption events
Nature (2024)
-
X-ray eruptions every 22 days from the nucleus of a nearby galaxy
Nature Astronomy (2024)
-
Science with a Small Two-Band UV-Photometry Mission III: Active Galactic Nuclei and Nuclear Transients
Space Science Reviews (2024)
-
Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole
Nature Astronomy (2023)
-
Computational methods for collisional stellar systems
Living Reviews in Computational Astrophysics (2023)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.