Black holes
Latest about Black Holes
![a black hole in the middle of a swirling orange cloud](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/9RkMvNh3LMcyRxs6JKd7am-320-80.jpg)
Black hole 'traffic jams' are forcing cosmic monsters to collide, new study finds
By Robert Lea published
Supermassive black holes may create conditions akin to "cosmic intersections with failed traffic lights" that make collisions between smaller stellar-mass black holes inevitable.
![(Left) The Milky Way's central supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. (Right) screenshots from a 3D simulation of flares around Sgr A*.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/voQo3bWxm9zQiYsqnJP8xL-320-80.jpg)
Explosive black hole flare from the center of our galaxy reconstructed from 'a single flickering pixel' using AI and Einstein's equations
By Robert Lea published
An explosive flare from the Milky Way's central black hole has been translated from 'a single flickering pixel' into a detailed 3D model using AI and Einstein's general relativity equations.
![An artist's illustration of the black hole and its orbiting star.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZhmQMHBmVKsXaP34WS5L9e-320-80.jpg)
Most massive stellar black hole in the Milky Way discovered 'extremely close' to Earth
By Ben Turner published
Astronomers found the most massive stellar-mass black hole in the galaxy after spotting a star "wobbling" nearby. The baby monster is the 2nd-closest black hole to Earth ever detected.
![Young stars blaze to life in the Orion Nebula. New research suggests that still-forming stars like these may become ‘infected’ with ancient black holes, leading to their destruction.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aCUm9G6UTzB6VahFtgLV8N-320-80.jpg)
Some stars may be 'infected' with black holes that destroy them from within, new study hints
By Jonathan Gilbert published
Could dark matter be made of mini black holes that formed in the early universe? One way to find out is to look for missing stars, destroyed by primordial black holes, a new study suggests.
![A swirling ring of orange light](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4qLYaRbmvx8pCURMVwzmXU-320-80.jpg)
Milky Way's monster black hole may be shooting superheated jets into our galaxy, groundbreaking images reveal
By Harry Baker published
A new polarized light image of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* has given us our first clear look at the magnetic field of the cosmic juggernaut, which suggests that it may have superheated jets just like even larger black holes.
![A tiny black hole in a faraway galaxy is repeatedly punching through a larger black hole's disk of gas.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/TP4aPpfjysKJ2mCioUr29C-320-80.jpg)
1st detection of 'hiccupping' black hole leads to surprising discovery of 2nd black hole orbiting around it
By Sharmila Kuthunur published
Scientists found a monster black hole that 'hiccups' every 8.5 days, and a smaller black hole that keeps punching through its accretion disk may be to blame.
![This zoomed-in view of a portion of the all-sky survey from NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer shows a collection of quasar candidates shown in yellow circles.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ze689cADYFk8GXkJZZtoWM-320-80.jpg)
Scientists reveal largest map of the universe's active supermassive black holes ever created
By Patrick Pester published
A massive new 3D map of space includes more than 1 million supermassive black hole-powered quasars, which are among the brightest objects in the universe.
![A telescopic image of space, including quasars](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/64Z3aSGkRbukjdtocRNPLG-320-80.jpg)
'Baby quasars' spotted by James Webb telescope could transform our understanding of monster black holes
By Jennifer Nalewicki published
Scientists think that by studying a cluster of "baby quasars," they can get a better understanding of supermassive black holes in the early universe.
![An artist's illustration of the two supermassive black holes.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ULuEivH6M6LDvqcUYSNUAk-320-80.jpg)
Astronomers find heaviest black hole pair in the universe, and they've been trapped in an endless duel for 3 billion years
By Ben Turner published
Two supermassive black holes spotted circling inside a remote 'fossil' galaxy are the heaviest, and the closest, black hole binary ever found.
![An illustration of a black hole emitting a gigantic jet of radiation.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/eX7xmH66KrSbgUW3qL9ded-320-80.jpg)
Einstein's predictions mean rare 'gravitational lasers' could exist throughout the universe, new paper claims
By Paul Sutter published
A new study combining two of Albert Einstein's famous predictions suggests that ripples in space-time can combine into 'gravitational lasers', firing out of black holes in random directions across the cosmos.
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