Back in 2009 astronomers noticed something a bit odd in the night sky, a star which has recently increased in luminosity suddenly disappeared. It was an odd observation as experts expected the star, which they believed was going supernova, to explode. Instead, it disappeared.
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00:00 Back in 2009, astronomers noticed something a bit odd in the night sky.
00:07 A star which had recently increased in luminosity suddenly disappeared.
00:12 It was an odd observation as experts expected the star which they believed was going supernova
00:17 to explode.
00:18 Instead, it was gone.
00:19 Now using the James Webb Space Telescope, they might finally have the answer as to where
00:23 the heck it went.
00:24 The star in question is called N6946-BH1 and astronomers initially believed it failed
00:30 when it began to supernova, instead becoming a black hole.
00:33 However, new data from the new telescope has revealed an infrared light source right where
00:37 the star used to be.
00:39 While this source could be the remnants of a star being sucked into a newly minted black
00:42 hole, the find is more consistent with a supernova explosion, one we didn't observe occurring.
00:47 And it gets weirder.
00:49 Astronomers actually found signs of three infrared remnant sources, leading to an entirely
00:54 new theory.
00:55 Rather than a supernova of a single star, they now theorize it was actually the merger
00:59 of an entire dual star system, with the sudden increase in luminosity likely being due to
01:04 the stars coming together to form a single one, then dimming once completed.
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