The text discusses the phenomenon of tidal disruption events (TDE), which occur when stars get too close to black holes and gravitational interactions cause the stars to be ripped apart. Astronomers have documented 12 such events in the known universe, making the discovery of 18 credible TDE signals particularly impressive due to the rapid identification of a large number of cases.

This was a result of the gravitational influence of black holes generating tidal forces in stars, leading to their disruption.