
Swift Black Hole Winds May Shape Galaxy
Winds that charge away from supermassive black holes at a fraction of the speed of light have long been mysterious and even contentious. Now, new evidence sheds light on their origins.

Black Hole Feeds on Star for a Decade
Unlucky stars serve as brilliant but short-lived snacks when they wander too close to supermassive black holes. But one such black hole is still gnawing on its stellar meal after a decade.

Milky Way’s Black Hole Is Throwing Cosmic Spitballs
Every now and then, the Milky Way’s central, supermassive black hole tears apart a star and flings away some of its innards. Now astronomers think they know how to spot these cosmic spitballs.

Hubble Images Tangled Web in Nearby Galaxy
A Hubble image of a nearby, massive elliptical galaxy reveals tenuous filaments that appear to be connected to the growth of the galaxy's supermassive black hole.

Runaway Black Hole Flees Behemoth Galaxy
Astronomers have spotted a supermassive black hole in a stripped-down galaxy racing away from a near-fatal close encounter in the center of a galaxy cluster.

Astronomers Gauge Spin in Black Hole Duo
Astronomers have measured the spin of one of the universe's most massive black holes — and provided evidence that the behemoth has a companion.

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.