#  Ghosting the Galaxy: The Star That Left Without Saying Goodbye 

 





Institute for Theory and Computation Researchers Morgan MacLeod and Avi Loeb Co-Author Science Study on Black Hole Formation



 

February 27, 2026

 

 

     ![ Gemini said  A deep-space visualization showing a massive, glowing white core at the center. Surrounding the light is a dense, intricate cloud of fiery red and dark orange nebular filaments spreading outward in a turbulent, circular pattern.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8321/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/M31_BlackHole_Wide_MAIN.jpg?itok=FNJ4fNDa) 

Artist image by Keith Miller: Caltech/IPAC



 



 

ITC members [**Morgan MacLeod**](/people/morgan-macleod "Morgan MacLeod")**,** Lecturer in Astronomy at Harvard, and [**Avi Loeb**](/people/avi-loeb "Avi Loeb"), Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard and Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (ITC), contributed to the announcement in *Science* on February 12, 2026, of the implosion of a massive star forming a black hole.

A bright, massive star in the Andromeda galaxy, M31-2014-DS1, completely disappeared from view in optical light about ten years ago. When investigating this disappearance, researchers found the former star had completely transformed. Instead of a star, astronomers now see hot gas shining as it falls into a newly formed black hole, surrounded by a shell of much cooler gas, molecules, and dust. This structure can only form if the core of the star implodes into a black hole, while the tenuous outer layers don't quite make it in and are expelled instead.

Scientists have thought for a long time that stellar-mass black holes must form as the end states of stars. Many stars explode as dramatic and bright supernovae; this one seems to be one of the long-theorized "failed" supernovae that collapse instead of exploding

> “Watching it happen is an incredible privilege because we can test our understanding against the real thing, and we're learning a tremendous amount about how this process works,” says MacLeod.

Researchers who contributed to this discovery include ITC alumnus [Kishalay De](https://dekishalay.github.io/), currently an astronomer at Columbia University and the Flatiron Institute.

#### ***Continued Reading***

[Disappearance of a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy due to formation of a black hole](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt4853) via *Science*

[Have astronomers witnessed the birth of a black hole?](https://www.npr.org/2026/02/12/nx-s1-5707552/have-astronomers-witnessed-the-birth-of-a-black-hole) via NPR

[Archival Data From NASA’s NEOWISE Tracks Star Turning Into Black Hole](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/archival-data-from-nasas-neowise-tracks-star-turning-into-black-hole/) via JPL/NASA



 

 

 



 

 

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