OJ 287 binary black hole

Galaxies

Signal Found from Supermassive Duo's Second Black Hole

Astronomers have long suspected that a distant quasar harbors not one but two supermassive black holes. They've now detected OJ 287's second black hole.

Supermassive black hole binary animation

Black Holes

These Two Black Hole Behemoths Will Merge in 10,000 Years

Astronomers have discovered a pair of supermassive black holes that whirl around each other every two years.

Most distant quasar

Black Holes

A Supermassive Black Hole on the Move

This supermassive black hole is restless, and astronomers want to know why.

illustration of X-ray binary system

Milky Way

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.

black hole binary in AGN disk

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle

Black Hole Collision May Have Caused Burst of Light

Astronomers think they’ve detected a flash created by the merger of two black holes.

Illustration of black holes merging

Black Holes

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.

Illustration of black holes merging

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.

Cygnus A in radio

Black Holes

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.

Still from simulation of two supermassive black holes merging

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle

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.

binary supermassive black hole

Stellar Science

60-Second Astro News: Merging Black Holes, Distant Super-Supernova, and Arecibo's Fate

Supermassive black holes en route to merger have strange dynamics in their gas disks. Astronomers have spotted the most distant spectroscopically confirmed supernova. And NSF decides the fate of the Arecibo Observatory.

five black hole mergers

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle

LIGO Sees Smallest Black Hole Binary Yet

LIGO has detected another black hole merger, raising the tally to five.

Virgo

Cosmology

Fourth Gravitational Wave Event Detected

Teaming up with LIGO, Europe’s Virgo detector has bagged its first gravitational waves. The three-observatory detection enabled scientists to better pinpoint the merging black holes’ location.

merging black holes

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle

LIGO Detects Third Black Hole Merger

Scientists with the gravitational-wave observatory announce another discovery, this time of a black hole merger twice as far away as previous detections.

Supermassive black hole binary

Black Holes

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.

gas spiraling toward binary black hole

Black Holes

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.

black hole binary artist's impression

Black Holes

Black Hole Binary En Route to Merger?

Astronomers poring through two decades of archival and survey observations have discovered what looks like a pair of supermassive black holes closing in for a merger.

Supermassive black hole binary

Black Holes

Black Holes Tango in Distant Galaxy

A bizarre X-ray flare first spotted in 2010 could be a signal from two black holes that will ultimately unite into a single beast.

Black Holes

Binary Quasar Is No Illusion

A close pair of quasars in Pisces turns out just that, not the record-breaking gravitational lens that astronomers had hoped.