Black Holes
Are Black Holes the Source of Dark Energy?
In a series of papers, an international team claims they've found the first observational evidence that supermassive black holes are…
Astronomers Spot a Rogue Supermassive Black Hole, Hurtling Through Space Leaving Star Formation in its Wake
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) lurk in the center of large galaxies like ours. From their commanding position in the galaxy's…
Do Advanced Civilizations use Black Holes as Giant Quantum Computers?
A new study suggests that advanced civilizations could used black holes as massive quantum computers, a theory that has implications…
Hungry Black Hole was Already Feasting 800 Million Years After the Big Bang
Black holes swallow everything—including light—which explains why we can't see them. But we can observe their immediate surroundings and learn…
The Donut That Used To Be a Star
The death of a star is one of the most dramatic natural events in the Universe. Some stars die in…
A Black Hole is Savoring its Meal, Feeding on the Same Star Over and Over Again
Something extraordinary happens about every 10,000 to 100,000 years in galaxies like the Milky Way. An unwary star approaches the…
What Does it Take to Make Black Holes Collide?
In a recent study published in Astronomy and Astrophysical Letters, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology…
Webb’s New Image Reveals a Galaxy Awash in Star Formation
When a spiral galaxy presents itself just right, observations reveal more detail. That's the case with NGC 7469, a spiral…
A Star Came too Close to a Black Hole. It Didn’t End Well
Black holes are confounding objects that stretch physics to its limits. The most massive ones lurk in the centers of…
Black Holes Shouldn’t be Able to Merge, but Dozens of Mergers Have Been Detected. How Do They Do It?
Who knows what lurks in the hearts of some globular clusters? Astronomers using a collection of gravitational wave observatories found…