A mysterious and incredibly intense blast of visible light that came towards Earth came from a black hole that is pointing straight at us, astronomers have said.

The discovery marks the furthest such event that scientists have ever said, as well as being the first time that astronomers have detected one using visible light. The latter was only possible because the jet is pointing almost directly at Earth.

When stars get too close to a black hole, they are torn to shreds and the blast can be detected throughout the universe. The event is known as a tidal disruption event, or TDE, and in about 1 per cent of cases they send plasma and radiation out of each side of the black hole.

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Those rare events are known as jetted-TDEs, and have been likened to grabbing a toothpaste tube and having material spurt out of either end. Scientists hardly ever see them, and understand even less about how they actually happen.

As part of the effort to better understand them, scientists watch the sky for signs of the events in the hope that they can turn advanced telescopes towards them when they happen. In February, that happened: astronomers saw an intriguing blast of visible light that led scientists to turn some of the world’s most advanced telescopes towards its source.

Read more: Independent