The explosion happened 300 million light years away
Hubble cannot see AT2022dsb’s tidal event up close because the star engulfing the black hole is located at the center of the galaxy ESO 583-G004, about 300 million light-years away. But astronomers used Hubble’s powerful ultraviolet sensitivity to study the light from the collapsed star. Spectroscopy provides forensic evidence of black hole hunting. NASA has shared the animation of this incident on Twitter.
Donut was once a star
The AT2022dsb event was first detected on 1 March 2022 by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, a network of ground-based telescopes. The collision was close enough to Earth and bright enough for Hubble astronomers to perform ultraviolet spectroscopy. Hubble spectroscopic data can be seen in the animation as a bright, hot doughnut-shaped region of what was once a star.