0 results
gas spiraling toward binary black hole

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

dwarf disk galaxy RGG 118

Astronomy & Observing News

Teeny Supermassive Black Hole

Astronomers have identified the smallest supermassive black hole ever detected in a galaxy’s center.

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

NGC 5972 and the ghost of quasars past

Astronomy & Observing News

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 artist's impression

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

Dwarf galaxy and its ejected black hole?

Astronomy & Observing News

Evicted Black Hole or Weird Supernova?

Orphaned black hole or weird supernova? A mysterious source of radiation has left astronomers contemplating exotic explanations.

ultracompact dwarf galaxy

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

Einstein Cross by Hubble

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

Black Hole-Jet Simulation

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

Supermassive black hole binary

Astronomy & Observing News

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.

Astronomy & Observing News

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.