Setting Limits to Black Hole Gluttony
Black holes may have a limit to how much they can eat in the public eye.
About The LIGO Gravitational-Wave Rumor. . .
Gossip is racing around the physics and astronomy community: has LIGO finally heard its first black-hole merger? Here’s the reality.
Our “Magnetic” Black Hole
Astronomers have detected magnetic fields writhing around the Milky Way's central black hole.
Mystery Signal from a Black Hole-Powered Jet
Astronomers have spotted what appears to be a regular signal coming from the blazar PG 1553+113.
How a Black Hole Flares
X-ray observations suggest that flares happen when a black hole's "atmosphere" contracts and launches away from it.
Closest Star-shredding Black Hole
The last hurrah of a star wrenched apart by a supermassive black hole tells astronomers what the stellar crumbs are doing.
Is the Milky Way's Black Hole Feeding?
The answer is a tantalizing maybe. Astronomers are investigating whether an increase in the number of flares from Sgr A* are due to the recent close passage of a dusty object known as G2.
New Mid-size Black Hole
Astronomers think a bright X-ray source in the galaxy NGC 1313 is a mid-size black hole.
Does the Nearest Quasar Host a Black Hole Binary?
Astronomers are investigating a new technique for finding close pairs of supermassive black holes, and they might have found one in the nearest quasar.
New Evidence for Black Hole Binary
Astronomers have confirmed that the quasar PG 1302-102 is probably a binary supermassive black hole, its members less than a tenth of a light-year apart.
Teeny Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers have identified the smallest supermassive black hole ever detected in a galaxy’s center.
A Sleeping Black Hole Awakens
On June 15th a quiet black hole, V404 Cygni, suddenly flared for the first time since 1989.
Revealing Hidden Black Holes
The NuSTAR telescope has spied high-energy X-rays from five supermassive black holes shrouded in a thick veil of dust and gas, a test run that will lead to a better census of these hidden beasts.
Black Hole Too Big for its Breeches
A supermassive black hole in the early universe is at least 10 times too heavy for its host galaxy, raising questions about galaxy and black hole coevolution.
Weighing a Supermassive Black Hole
Combining a novel technique and a world-class telescope, astronomers have measured the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of barred spiral NGC 1097.
The Most Luminous Galaxy
Researchers using NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have discovered the most luminous galaxy to date.
Best Evidence Yet That Black Holes Exist
A team of astronomers has found indirect evidence of a supermassive black hole’s event horizon, providing further proof that these wacky objects actually exist in nature.
Potential Mid-size Black Hole Found
Scientists have found what seems to be an intermediate-mass black hole in a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years away. If its size is confirmed, it could provide much-needed insight into black hole evolution.
New Stars in the Shadow of a Black Hole
New observations suggest that several dozen low-mass stars, and eventually perhaps even planets, are forming just 2 light-years from our galaxy’s supermassive black hole.
Monster Black Hole in Early Universe
Astronomers have discovered one of the brightest quasars in the early universe. The source, SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 (hereafter J0100+2802), is powered by a supermassive black hole at a redshift of 6.3, meaning that its light left it 12.8 billion years ago.