SUNSET: 
How “Light Echoes” Revealed a Black Hole’s Feeding Habits
Astronomers are taking a cue from bats, using a method similar to echolocation to map out the feeding environment around a black hole.
Astronomers Use Annihilated Star to Clock Black Hole’s Spin
The glow of a star torn up by a supermassive black hole has enabled researchers to measure how fast the black hole whirls around.
Rotating Gas in a Quasar’s Heart
Astronomers have “imaged” gas as it orbits a supermassive black hole some 2 billion light-years away.
What LIGO Teaches Us About Black Holes
The rising count of gravitational-wave events is giving us a new look at a once-invisible population of black holes.
Gravitational-Wave Observatories Bag Four Black-Hole Collisions
A re-analysis of data from LIGO and Virgo brings the number of gravitational-wave detections to 11, including the most distant and most powerful black-hole merger yet discovered.
A Black Hole X-Ray Binary Rises
New observations have captured a feeding black hole in our galaxy as it bursts onto the scene.
Gas Seen Moving Near the Event Horizon
Astronomers have detected three flares from near our galaxy’s central black hole that look like gas closely orbiting the unseen object.
Odd Jets Might Signal Dual Black Holes
Off-kilter, curved, and otherwise unusual beams of plasma from galaxies’ cores might track the dueling dances of two supermassive black holes.
Video: The Glow of Spiraling Black Holes
New calculations reveal what two supermassive black holes about to merge would look like in ultraviolet and X-rays.
Middleweight Black Holes Provide Window to Early Universe
How did supermassive black holes form? Two studies discovered dozens of middling-mass black holes in dwarf galaxies to fuel an ongoing debate.
A Rapidly Spinning Black Hole with a Warped Disk
An X-ray telescope recently installed on the International Space Station has provided a detailed look at a black hole feeding off its companion star.
Star Swings Around Black Hole, Tests Gravity
Astronomers have seen a star’s light redden as it passed our galaxy’s central black hole, just as general relativity predicts.
Scientists See Strong Evidence of Rare Middle-weight Black Hole
New observations give more fuel to the concept of intermediate-mass black holes.
Black Hole Destroys Star and Shoots Jet
Astronomers have watched the growth of a jet fueled by a shredded star.
More Mystery Objects in the Galactic Center
Astronomers have discovered three more red, dusty objects near the Milky Way’s central black hole that could be merged stars.
Do Big Black Holes Wander the Galaxy?
New simulation work suggests that galaxies like the Milky Way could be home to a dozen supermassive black holes.
Our Galaxy's Center Might Hold Thousands of Black Holes
A new study has uncovered a dozen stellar-mass black holes within 3 light-years of the supermassive black hole at our galaxy’s core — and these might be just the tip of the iceberg.
Physicist Proposes Alternative to Black Holes
A physicist has incorporated a quantum mechanical idea with general relativity to arrive at a new alternative to black hole singularities.
Neutron Star Powers Ultraluminous X-rays
It turns out that neutron stars — not black holes — power at least some ultraluminous X-ray sources.
Astronomers Watch Donut Rotate Around Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers have detected a torus rotating around the supermassive black hole at the center of spiral galaxy Messier 77, collecting observations that may shed light on why these weird structures exist.
