NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) gave astronomers an unexpected glimpse at a black hole violently ripping apart a Sun-sized star. It is one of the most detailed looks yet at a cataclysmic phenomenon called tidal disruption, and the first for TESS. When a star strays too close to a black hole, intense tides break it apart into a stream of gas. The tail of the stream escapes the system, while the rest of it swings back around, surrounding...