
The Case of the Disappearing Quasar
When a quasar, a black hole-fueled beacons that shines from across the cosmos, went dark, astronomers set out to find out why.

Setting Limits to Black Hole Gluttony
Black holes may have a limit to how much they can eat in the public eye.

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.

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.

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.

Hubble Investigates Ghosts of Quasars Past
A galaxy-size blob of gas discovered eight years ago by a Dutch schoolteacher has galvanized the study of the spectral remains of once-bright quasars.

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.

Evicted Black Hole or Weird Supernova?
Orphaned black hole or weird supernova? A mysterious source of radiation has left astronomers contemplating exotic explanations.

Small Galaxy Boasts Big Black Hole
Astronomers have detected a supermassive black hole in the center of a tiny galaxy — where it has no right to be.

Distant Black Hole’s Spin Clocked
A new measurement could be the farthest back in time astronomers have ever reached when measuring a black hole’s spin.

Black Hole Trio Questioned
New data shed light on last month’s exciting discovery of a black hole triplet — but they suggest instead that the threesome is really just a twosome.

Black Hole Trio Found
Astronomers have discovered that one member of a pair of supermassive black holes is actually a pair itself, turning the system into the most distant black hole triplet yet detected and raising hopes for future discoveries.

A MAD New Way to Make Black Hole Jets
Newly published observations provide the first real evidence supporting a theory that tells us how black hole jets form.

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.

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.