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Monday, August 24, 2026 · UTC
The Sky & Telescopes

Stars captured by black holes likely spin rapidly

New analysis suggests the Hills mechanism forces captured stars into tight, fast-spinning orbits.

Arjun Nair
Astronomy Editor
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Stands on 3 placed sources from 2 publishers.
Stars captured by a black hole through the Hills mechanism are likely tidally locked and spinning rapidly due to the extreme compactness of their original binary orbits.[1]