Astronomers have spied a super-massive back hole ripping a star to shreds before consuming it, in a in a galaxy that is 3.8 billion light years away from Earth.

Astronomers are of the view that the star had come very close to the black hole and got sucked in by the massive gravitational forces. The researchers used high precision telescopes from Hawaii to the Canary Islands to examine a flash of radiation hurtling towards Earth when the star collapsed into the massive hole.

The report published by the journal Science states that the energy burst, which was discovered on March 28 and designated Sw 1644+57, is still noticeable by telescope more than two-and-a-half months later.

These types of bursts generally point to the implosion of an ageing star that produces a single and quick blast of energy. But, this event does not have the marks of an imploding sun.

Astrophysicist Dr. Andrew Levan, of the University of Warwick, said it seemed as if was a very different type of galactic event- the one in which a passing star got sucked into a black hole.

These black holes only become visible when an object such as a star is pulled in.