This artist’s illustration depicts the aftermath of the “tidal disruption event” (TDE) called ASASSN-14li, where a star was shredded after approaching too closely to a supermassive black hole. After the star was ripped apart, some of its gas (red) orbited around and fell into the black hole, while a portion of the gas was driven away in a wind (blue).

Scientists used an X-ray spectrum from Chandra to probe the elements contained in this wind, including the detection of nitrogen. The X-ray data indicates that the star in ASASSN-14li was about three times the mass of the Sun, making it one of the largest stars ever known to be destroyed in a TDE.