Exactly my earlier observation. The galaxy is big, with lots of opportunity for variation in stochastic events. But how the hell did they stumble on this one far enough in advance to detect the decay in that orbit to document this event?
It blew me away.
It seems to me (upon actually reading the article, lol) that they didnt really see the event, but are trying to explain the resulting debris ring that remains. Of course all the images shown are artists conceptions and not actual ‘pictures’ so who knows what they are really ‘seeing’. Among other things in my current profession, I am educated in orbit mechanics and understand that well within our own solar system and planets and natural and man made satellites . Astrophysics can be a little more complex and its not my specialty. But its also a little less ‘practical’ since all we can do with it during our lifetimes is observe and postulate theories.