
Astronomy News: Galactic One-Two Punch, Black Hole Heartbeat Falters
In the news this week: Globular clusters have the detailed scoop on our galaxy's past, and a "heartbeat" black hole binary in the Milky Way has gone mysteriously dim.

What the Most Distant Quasar Tells Us About Black Hole Birth
The existence of a quasar when the universe was only 670 million years old is helping astronomers understand how black holes are born.

Black Hole Feasts on Star, Bite by Bite
Like a cosmic blinker, a distant supermassive black hole is flaring every 114 days. Astronomers believe the eerily regular signal betrays the piecemeal devouring of a star.

Pulsars Show Hint of Gravitational-wave Background
Duos of supermassive black holes tangoing throughout the universe make their own music, and astronomers may have picked up a hint of the tune.

Survey Finds Newborn Black Hole Jets in Distant Galaxies
Astronomers have spotted a surprising number of quasars with jets launched within a couple of decades.

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle
Big Black Holes Dominate New Gravitational-Wave Catalog
Gravitational-wave scientists have unveiled their latest catalog of events, revealing a surprising number of massive black holes.

Casting Doubt on a Nearby Black Hole
New research has shown that the recently-discovered closest black hole to Earth might not be a black hole after all but a binary star.

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle
Black Hole Scientists Win 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics
This year’s award goes to three researchers who played key roles in developing the theoretical and observational evidence for black holes.

Record-breaking Signal Reveals New Population of Black Holes
Gravitational-wave observatories have detected the most massive black hole merger yet, and it's challenging our ideas of black hole formation.

Black Hole Collision May Have Caused Burst of Light
Astronomers think they’ve detected a flash created by the merger of two black holes.

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle
Gravitational Wave Detectors Find Mystery “Mass Gap” Object
Astronomers have caught a black hole colliding with a mysterious companion that might be either one of the most massive neutron stars or the smallest black hole ever detected.

First All-sky Map from eRosita
The first all-sky X-ray map to be released in 30 years reveals new wonders of the hot and energetic universe.

Black Holes Grow by Gas, Not Mergers, Most of Their Lives
Calculations suggest how black holes have amassed mass and predict what the black holes’ spins should be if this picture is correct.

Black Hole Duo Flares Right on Time
Astronomers have forecast a flare from a supermassive black hole duo 3.5 billion light-years away.

Closest Black Hole to Earth? Maybe
An international team of astronomers says that they’ve discovered the closest black hole to Earth — an invisible object dancing with two large, bright stars 1,000 light-years away.

What Kinds of Black Hole Partners Merge?
New research on black hole mergers reveals that the black hole pairs tend to have similar masses — suggesting that they start out as massive stellar pairs.

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle
Mismatched Black Holes Merge
For the first time, the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors have "heard" gravitational waves from an unequal pair of black holes.

Black Hole Changes Star’s Orbit in Gravity Test
A long-awaited measurement indicates that a star whizzing around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole has changed its trajectory.

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle
Event Horizon Telescope Finds Bent Jet Near Black Hole
Observations from the worldwide network of radio telescopes show the fire hose of plasma shooting from a distant galaxy does something strange near its source.

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle
Scientists Predict Countless Rings of Light Encircle Black Holes
Detailed calculations reveal a surprise about how black holes bend light around themselves, opening a new possibility for future observations.