Black Hole’s Effect on a Passing Star

Question:  If a dark star were come close enough to a black hole would the mass of the black holes mass be enough to make the light be visible for at least a short time so it could be measured for distance.  — Evan

Answer: I think that what you are asking is if a star passed near a black hole and was torn apart, its mass would then get turned into energy.  That energy would appear as light (mainly high-energy xray and gamma ray emission) as it gets accelerated into the black hole.  One might see this as a “flash” of light as the star is devoured by the black hole.  This is possible, but would likely only be observed “by chance”, as we have no real way to predict such an encounter.

Jeff Mangum