Overview
- M31-2014-DS1 brightened in infrared starting in 2014, then faded rapidly and vanished from optical view, a pattern the team identifies as a direct collapse to a black hole.
- By 2022 the star’s optical brightness in Hubble images had dropped to roughly one ten-thousandth of its 2012 level, leaving only a faint mid‑infrared glow consistent with dust-heated emission.
- Researchers mined NEOWISE/WISE data from 2009–2022 to flag the disappearing star, demonstrating a method tailored to detect failed supernovae that lack a bright optical outburst.
- Analysis suggests the progenitor began near 13 solar masses and had shed down to about 5 solar masses before collapse, with most of the remaining mass accreting inward to form a black hole.
- The study, led by Kishalay De and published in Science, is presented as the clearest case to date, improving on the less certain 2010 candidate NGC 6946‑BH1 at far greater distance.