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From Yahoo! News: Science News:
In a distant galaxy, a star orbiting a massive central black hole strays too close to the insatiable giant and is torn apart. But before it can be devoured, the star lets out one last scream in a flare of light that slowly echoes across the galaxy. Astronomers on Earth pick up this faint call and use it to map the nucleus of the galaxy from which it emanated.
This scenario is no bit of science fiction �" a team of astronomers discovered one of these rare and dramatic events while combing through the Sloan Digital Sky Survey last December. Their observations are detailed in the May issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The team is still monitoring the "light echo," and for the first time, one of these events can be observed in great detail, allowing astronomers "to probe different regions of the galaxy," said study leader Stefanie Komossa of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics.
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