Disappearance of a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy due to formation of a black hole

Abstract

When a massive star reaches the end of its lifetime, its core collapses and releases neutrinos that drive a shock into the outer layers (stellar envelope). A sufficiently strong shock ejects the envelope, producing a supernova. If the shock fails to eject it, the envelope is predicted to fall back onto the collapsing core, producing a stellar-mass black hole (BH) and causing the star to disappear. We report observations of M31-2014-DS1, a hydrogen-depleted supergiant in the Andromeda Galaxy. In 2014 it brightened in the mid-infrared. From 2017 to 2022 it faded by factors of $\gtrsim 10^4$ in optical light, becoming undetectable, and $\gtrsim 10$ in total light. We interpret these observations, and those of a previous event in NGC 6946, as evidence for failed supernovae forming stellar-mass BHs.

arXiv commentPublished in Science on February 12, 2026

References in corpus (89)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) for the Spitzer Space Telescope
• Correcting for the Effects of Interstellar Extinction
• MESA Isochrones and Stellar Tracks (MIST). I: Solar-Scaled Models
• Binary interaction dominates the evolution of massive stars
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: System Overview, Performance, and First Results
• Methods and results of an automatic analysis of a complete sample of Swift-XRT observations of GRBs
• HI4PI: A full-sky HI survey based on EBHIS and GASS
• The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive
• Progenitors of core-collapse supernovae
• The Palomar Transient Factory: System Overview, Performance and First Results
• Core-Collapse Supernovae from 9 to 120 Solar Masses Based on Neutrino-powered Explosions
• A Method of Correcting Near-Infrared Spectra for Telluric Absorption
• WFPC2 Stellar Photometry with HSTphot
• Pre-Supernova Evolution of Massive Single and Binary Stars
• An online repository of Swift/XRT light curves of GRBs
• Theory of Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Initial Performance of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission
• Black Hole Formation in Failing Core-Collapse Supernovae
• Exploring the Optical Transient Sky with the Palomar Transient Factory
• The Pan-STARRS1 Database and Data Products
• Observational constraints on the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae : the case for missing high mass stars
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Time-Dependent Convection, Energy Conservation, Automatic Differentiation, and Infrastructure
• A Global Three Dimensional Radiation Magneto-hydrodynamic Simulation of Super-Eddington Accretion Disks
• Self-similarity and scaling behavior of IR emission from radiatively heated dust: I. Theory
• The Maximum Mass of a Neutron Star
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury
• Type II Supernovae: Model Light Curves and Standard Candle Relationships
• unWISE: unblurred coadds of the WISE imaging
• The search for failed supernovae with the Large Binocular Telescope: confirmation of a disappearing star
• Calibration of the NuSTAR High Energy Focusing X-ray Telescope
• The Zwicky Transient Facility Bright Transient Survey. II. A Public Statistical Sample for Exploring Supernova Demographics
• A Survey About Nothing: Monitoring a Million Supergiants for Failed Supernovae
• Luminous Blue Variable eruptions and related transients: Diversity of progenitors and outburst properties
• Evolution of massive stars with pulsation-driven superwinds during the RSG phase
• Very Low Energy Supernovae from Neutrino Mass Loss
• Proper image subtraction - optimal transient detection, photometry and hypothesis testing
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury X. Ultraviolet to Infrared Photometry of 117 Million Equidistant Stars
• The Search for Failed Supernovae with The Large Binocular Telescope: First Candidates
• Type Ib and IIb supernova progenitors in interacting binary systems
• Yellow supergiants as supernova progenitors: an indication of strong mass loss for red supergiants?
• The dust condensation sequence in red super-giant stars
• A Systematic Survey of the Effects of Wind Mass Loss Algorithms on the Evolution of Single Massive Stars
• Binospec: A Wide-field Imaging Spectrograph for the MMT
• The Search for Failed Supernovae with the Large Binocular Telescope: Constraints from 7 Years of Data
• A Revised Historical Light Curve of Eta Carinae and the Timing of Close Periastron Encounters
• DIRECT Distances to Nearby Galaxies Using Detached Eclipsing Binaries and Cepheids. I. Variables in the Field M31B
• Mass Ejection in Failed Supernovae: Variation with Stellar Progenitor
• Black Hole Accretion Discs and Luminous Transients in Failed Supernovae from Non-Rotating Supergiants
• Inferring Explosion Properties from Type II-Plateau Supernova Light Curves
• Time-resolved WISE/NEOWISE Coadds
• Swift 1644+57: The Longest Gamma-ray Burst?
• The Astrophysical Implications of Dust Formation During The Eruptions of Hot, Massive Stars
• The Hubble Space Telescope Survey of M31 Satellite Galaxies I. RR Lyrae-based Distances and Refined 3D Geometric Structure
• Triggering jet-driven explosions of core-collapse supernovae by accretion from convective regions
• The search for failed supernovae with the Large Binocular Telescope: a new candidate and the failed SN fraction with 11 yr of data
• Perfecting the Photometric Calibration of the ACS CCD Cameras
• The Palomar Transient Factory photometric catalog 1.0
• Rapidly Fading Supernovae from Massive Star Explosions
• Gone without a bang: An archival HST survey for disappearing massive stars
• A Spectroscopic Survey of Massive Stars in M31 and M33
• Angular momentum fluctuations in the convective helium shell of massive stars
• Shock-heating of stellar envelopes: A possible common mechanism at the origin of explosions and eruptions in massive stars
• The Great Dimming of Betelgeuse: a Surface Mass Ejection (SME) and its Consequences
• The physics of Core-Collapse Supernovae: explosion mechanism and explosive nucleosynthesis
• A physical model of mass ejection in failed supernovae
• The Red Supergiant Content of M31 and M33
• Very Low Energy Supernovae: Light Curves and Spectra of Shock Breakout
• Numerical simulations of the random angular momentum in convection II: delayed explosions of red supergiants following "failed'' supernovae
• A Complete Census of Luminous Stellar Variability on Day to Decade Timescales
• Mass ejection in failed supernovae: equation of state and neutrino loss dependence
• Gaia Data Release 3: The Gaia Andromeda Photometric Survey
• The Red Supergiant Binary Fraction as a Function of Metallicity in M31 and M33
• Weak shock propagation with accretion. I. Self-similar solutions and application to failed supernovae
• Nothing to see here: Failed supernovae are faint or rare
• Binary Red Supergiants: A New Method for Detecting B-type Companions
• Black Hole Emergence in Supernovae
• Type II intermediate-luminosity optical transients (ILOTs)
• Yellow Supergiants and Post-Red Supergiant Evolution in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• An Exceptional Dimming Event for a Massive, Cool Supergiant in M51
• SRGA J181414.6-225604: A new Galactic symbiotic X-ray binary outburst triggered by an intense mass loss episode of a heavily obscured Mira variable
• Dust Formation By Failed Supernovae
• Three Dimensional Natures of Massive Star Envelopes
• Variability of massive stars in M31 from the Palomar Transient Factory
• Comments on the Progenitor of NGC6946-BH1
• Don't believe the hype(r): The Yellow Supergiants of Westerlund 1