Schmidt Sciences Program Scientist Thomas Wevers recently delivered a talk at the European Space Astronomy Center in Madrid about one of the universe's most dramatic events: what happens when a star meets a black hole.

Think of it like a cosmic traffic accident - but instead of a fender bender, we get spectacular X-ray fireworks that we can detect from billions of miles away. Thomas reviewed how we use these X-ray signals to understand these tidal disruption events.

The conference brought together scientists studying these rare cosmic encounters and the repeating energy signals they sometimes produce. It's detective work on a extragalactic scale.