Where Did the Star Go?

[Zzzptm]

https://dailygalaxy.com/2020/06/vanished-the-mystery-of-a-massive-mystery-star-in-a-dwarf-galaxy/

No evidence of a supernova... just vanished from view!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

While dust might cause the star to dim -- as was considered for the recent dimming of Betelguese -- I don't think it would cause the total dissapearance, so who knows?!

[Zzzptm]

Most fascinating would be if it did become a black hole in such a short period of time without a supernova. That would be data that modifies our normal expectations of a star's life cycle.

[Vyn]

It would also prove that the earth is half-flat, half-pretzel.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I thought it was bagel shaped?

[Charger]

Just read about this as well.

It does seem possible that the star just collapsed to a black hole...there is no documented cases of that ever happening before but ofcourse it is perfectly possible. The star certainly had enough mass to do so.

These kind of a massive and extremely bright variable stars can change their brightness quite a bit but not this much...the dust theory seems potential as well though.

Either way this once again proves how little we actually do know about the universe and how we should never EVER consider anything that we know about it now as an absolute fact...

[Zzzptm]

I thought about where the dust itself might be and now my mind is boggling with all the distance between here and there... and dust could be at any point along the way, blocking the view.