Scientists threw eight stars against a black hole one million times the mass of the Sun in a simulation to see which contender would win.
The first simulations of Einstein's theory of relativity and virtual stars with realistic internal structures were led by a fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.
The goal is to create more realistic models of tidal disruption events, which occur when unlucky stars stray too close to black holes.
Some stars were pulled apart and others were partially disrupted in the video. Some stars were able to return to their normal shapes after the boss battle.
NASA explains in a video that the star's own gravity will pull it back together as it moves away from the black hole. Four model stars were able to survive the fight, one of which was a star like our own Sun, and three of which were around 0.2 and 0.7 times its mass. Many other stars, both larger and smaller than our own, were torn apart.
NASA says that the star's internal density is the difference between survival and destruction.
Even if they are millions of light years away, doomed stars could help astronomy understand how tidal disruption events look and happen. It could help us understand the universe better.
Nobody can blame us if we don't test our simulations and find out the answers for ourselves. Even if our Sun was lucky enough to return to its normal shape, no one would have asked if humans would return to their previous shapes after a black hole encounter.
More on smashing space stuff together: Bruce Willis apparently refused to watch a rocket launch.
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