The findings are the best evidence yet of the theory, say astronomers

Scientists think the doomed star drifted too close to the giant hole and gradually fell under the influence of its enormous gravity.

The tidal forces of the black hole pulled on the star, stretching it until it broke up.

The black hole then swallowed some of the matter left behind, causing a flare of X-rays that was detected on Earth.

The phenomenon has long been predicted by theory and similar X-ray spikes have been seen before.

'Brilliant flare'

But astronomers claim the new data, from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory and Nasa's Chandra X-ray observatory, is the best evidence yet that these events do happen.

This unlucky star just wandered into the wrong neighbourhood

Dr Stefanie Komossa, Max Planck Institute

The black hole is at the centre of a galaxy known as RX J1242-11 and is estimated to have a mass about 100 million times that of the Sun. RX J1242-11 is an estimated 700 million light-years away from Earth.

"This unlucky star just wandered into the wrong neighbourhood," said Dr Stefanie Komossa, of the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

"The centre of the galaxy flared up in a brilliant burst of X-rays thousands of times brighter than all of the billions of stars of this galaxy taken together."

Regular vision

Dr Komossa said the emission's wide spread of energy was characteristic of matter very close to a black hole.

"The gravity of that black hole is strong enough to swing around the stars in the centre and in the vicinity up to speeds of several thousands of kilometres per second," Professor Guenther Hasinger, also of the Max Planck Institute, told a news conference in Washington DC, US.

The black hole's tidal forces stretched the star to breaking point

This small amount is consistent with predictions that the momentum and energy of the process by which the star is consumed would fling most of the star's gas away from the black hole.

"Every galaxy contains a black hole, and there are millions or billions of galaxies. In principle, we are expecting these events to happen all the time," said Professor Hasinger.

"We very much hope that future X-ray survey missions will actually pick up these sources regularly."