Record 'Superman' Flare: Black Hole Erupts with Light Equal to 10 Trillion Suns

Record-Breaking Black Hole Flare Illuminates the Distant Universe

A team of astronomers has identified the most powerful and most distant flare ever recorded from a supermassive black hole. Nicknamed “Superman,” the outburst came from about 10 billion light-years away and, at its peak, produced as much light as roughly 10 trillion suns.

What happened?

The flare originates in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) — the bright, compact core of a galaxy where a supermassive black hole is actively accreting gas and dust. Material spiraling into the black hole forms a hot, rotating accretion disk that can emit intense radiation when disturbed.

After considering several scenarios, researchers concluded the most likely explanation is a tidal disruption event: a very massive star wandered too close to the black hole and was torn apart by tidal forces. The shredded star’s debris is still falling into the black hole, producing the unusually luminous and long-lived flare.

How it was discovered

Superman was first spotted in November 2018 by the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey and the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at Palomar Observatory. Initially the source appeared only unusually bright and was classified as a blazar — an AGN with energetic jets.

Five years later, astronomers re-examined ZTF archival data and noticed a slowly varying signal. Follow-up observations with instruments including the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii showed the source to be far more luminous and energetic than originally thought.

Key properties and significance

• The central black hole’s mass is estimated at about 500 million solar masses.
• The disrupted star is estimated to be at least 30 solar masses, making this likely the most massive star yet observed being shredded by a supermassive black hole.
• At peak brightness, Superman was roughly 30 times more luminous than any previously recorded black hole flare; the previous record-holder, ZTF20abrbeie (“Scary Barbie”), involved a 3–10 solar-mass star.

Coauthor K.E. Saavik Ford commented,

“This is probably the most massive star ever seen shredded by a supermassive black hole. That’s exciting because it tells us that massive stars must live in and around gas disks around supermassive black holes.”

Cosmological perspective and follow-up

Because the event occurred ~10 billion light-years away, we are seeing it as it happened 10 billion years ago. Matthew Graham of Caltech explained that cosmological expansion stretches both the light’s wavelength and the event’s apparent timescale:

“Seven years here is two years there. We are watching the event play back at quarter speed.”

A light-year equals about 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers), for context.

The team continues to monitor the fading flare. By mining ZTF archives and using next-generation observatories such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, astronomers hope to find more of these extremely rare events. Finding additional examples will illuminate the population of stars near galactic centers and help refine models of how black holes and stars interact in the most extreme environments.

Expert perspective

Independent experts noted the discovery’s importance. Dr. Danny Milisavljevic (Purdue University) described the event as part of an emerging class of extreme nuclear transients (ENTs) that challenge existing models. Alex Filippenko (UC Berkeley) called the observation a rare opportunity to study "some of the most extreme physics in the Universe" at galactic centers.

Ongoing monitoring and future surveys will determine how common such extreme flares are and what they reveal about galaxy evolution and the environments around supermassive black holes.