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The black hole that they had confirmed was Cygnus X-1, a binary star consisting of a supermassive star co-orbiting a black hole.

Regardless, the researchers say, MY Camelopardalis is the first known example of a binary system on its way toward creating a supermassive star.

It probably happens when any supermassive star collapses to form a black hole, but, says McEnery, “we’re not going to see most of them; we can only detect them when the jets point right at us.”

Things will play out quite differently for a supermassive star like Eta Carinae, which lies 7,500 light years from Earth.