AAS Nova

Black Hole Baby Photos: JWST and Chandra Observe M31-2014-DS1

By on Features
Share:
illustration of M31-2014-DS1
An illustration of M31-2014-DS1, which is thought to be a newborn black hole. In this model, the black hole is encased in a shell of dusty gas, some of which has fallen backward to feed the black hole. [Keith Miller, Caltech/IPAC – SELab]

One of the most luminous supergiant stars in the Andromeda Galaxy, M31-2014-DS1, has disappeared, potentially leaving behind a black hole shrouded in dusty gas. What do new infrared and X-ray observations tell us about this event?

Failure to Explode?

SN 2023ixf in Messier 101

This image from Gemini North shows the supernova SN 2023ixf along one of the spiral arms of Messier 101. Though less showy than core-collapse supernovae, “failed” supernovae may be another way to form stellar-mass black holes. [International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; CC BY 4.0]

Massive stars are famous for going out with a bang. After swelling into supergiants, these stars bring their brief lives to a close in a cosmic fireworks show: a supernova explosion that creates a neutron star or a black hole.

But a splashy supernova explosion may not be the only way for a massive star to go out. As observations have begun to suggest, some massive stars may — for reasons not yet fully understood — quietly collapse in upon themselves, going out with a whimper rather than a bang. Though less spectacular and far harder to spot, these “failed” supernovae highlight a possible pathway for the formation of stellar-mass black holes.

A Newborn Black Hole in a Dense, Dusty Blanket

Just last month, researchers reported their discovery of a potential failed supernova. The supergiant M31-2014-DS1 suddenly brightened in 2014 before fading to obscurity, leading researchers to suspect that the star had experienced a failed supernova and created a black hole. The event shared similarities with another failed supernova candidate, NGC6946-BH1.

JWST data of M31-2014-DS 1

Left: A JWST image of M31-2014-DS 1. Right: Spectral energy distributions of the progenitor star/the remnant using data from 2005 to 2012 (empty circles), 2022 to 2023 (filled circles), and 2024 (colored lines). Click to enlarge. [De et al. 2026]

In a new article published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, Kishalay De (Columbia University; Flatiron Institute) and coauthors have used JWST and the Chandra X-ray Observatory to learn more about what remained after M31-2014-DS1 disappeared. The JWST observations show an extremely red object that has faded considerably in just a few years, with a deep absorption feature from silicate dust and numerous narrow molecular absorption lines. Chandra did not detect any X-rays.

Together, these observations support a model in which the collapsing star ejected its outer layers in a relatively low-energy event (somewhere in the broad ballpark of one hundred-millionth to one ten-thousandth the energy of a typical core-collapse supernova) and formed a black hole. Some of the ejected material fell backward and fed the newborn black hole, while the remainder created a dense blanket that blocked the light from the accreting black hole from view.

Continued Evolution

schematic of the gas surrounding a newborn black hole

Cartoon showing the authors’ model and the model parameters inferred from the observations. Click to enlarge. [De et al. 2026]

In observations from 2024, the source had faded to just 7% of the progenitor star’s luminosity, supporting the conclusion that the star has disappeared and what lies beneath the dusty ejecta is a black hole. De’s team expects that as time goes on, the gas that obscures the accretion-powered luminosity of the newborn black hole will expand and become less dense along our line of sight. At some point — estimated to be no sooner than about 27 years from now — the X-ray emission from the accreting black hole should pierce the dusty shroud and become visible to sensitive X-ray observatories. In the infrared, JWST will be able to track the source’s evolution caused by continued dust creation in the expanding shell.

Thanks to its location in a neighboring galaxy, M31-2014-DS1 has granted astronomers a front-row seat to a poorly understood pathway for black hole formation. Going forward, we can expect further insights into M31-2014-DS1 and, hopefully, the discovery of many more sources like it.

Citation

“Fading into Darkness: A Weak Mass Ejection and Low-Efficiency Fallback Accompanying Black Hole Formation in M31-2014-DS1,” Kishalay De et al 2026 ApJL 999 L25. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ae468d