supermassive black hole

Latest about supermassive black hole

an artist's illustration of the most distant quasar known with radio jets

Universe's oldest known quasar discovered 13 billion light-years away

By Tim Childers published

Astronomers have found the farthest known source of radio emissions in the universe: a galaxy-swallowing supermassive black hole.

Cosmology
the first ever direct image of a black hole, with yellow ring surrounding black circle

Are primordial black holes really giant gravitinos?

By Paul Sutter published

New research proposes that the first black holes came from clumps of gravitinos, exotic, hypothetical particles that managed to survive the first chaotic years of the Big Bang.

Black Holes
The European Southern Observatory’s GRAVITY instrument revealed clumps of gas swirling around just outside the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Here, a visualization of that orbiting gas.

Our galaxy's supermassive black hole is closer to Earth than we thought

By Diane Lincoln published

The supermassive black hole hiding in the center of our galaxy is much closer to Earth, about 2,000 light-years closer, than scientists thought.

Black Holes
Scientists have spotted an extremely powerful explosion in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster, which is located about 390 million light years from Earth. Here, a composite showing the area in X-ray, infrared and radio wavelengths.

Scientists spot the biggest known explosion in the universe

By Mike Wall published

A gargantuan explosion tore through the heart of a distant galaxy cluster, releasing about five times more energy than the previous record holder, a new study reports.

Cosmology
Scientists used NASA's TESS space telescope to spot a star being shredded by a supermassive black hole. This artist’s conception depicts the star being torn apart into a thin stream of gas that is pulled around the black hole before crashing back into the star, kicking off more material.

Gargantuan Black Hole Shreds Star in Rare Cosmic 'Crime Scene'

By Tariq Malik published

Scientists have spotted what may be the best example yet of a star being ripped to shreds by a massive black hole. Here's what they found.

Black Holes
Aaaaaaand it's gone.

This Ridiculously Speedy Star Might Be Running Away from a Rare, Unproven Type of Black Hole

By Brandon Specktor published

I'd be running, too.

Black Holes
An artist’s illustration of the star S0-2 as it passes by the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center. As the star gets closer to the supermassive black hole, it experiences a gravitational redshift that is predicted by Einstein's theory of gene

Einstein's Theory of Relativity Holds Up Around a Supermassive Black Hole

By Charles Q. Choi published

Astronomers have shown that Einstein's ideas about the warping of space and time holds true as the best description yet of how gravity works.

Black Holes
An artist's impression of a cool ring of hydrogen gas that circles around our supermassive black hole.

Scientists Take First-Ever Image of a Faint Swirling Ring of Hydrogen Around Our Galaxy's Black Hole

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

This cool cloud dances around the giant cosmic beast.

Black Holes
A NASA image shows the M87 galaxy, in the middle of which is the black hole that was imaged for the first time earlier this month (bottom-most box). The top zoomed-in box shows the shockwaves caused by jets of plasma spewed out from the black hole.

Black Hole Spits Out High-Energy Jets at Near Light-Speed

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

Black holes gobble up most matter around them, but some of it escapes, spewing nearly-light-speed jets of material.

Black Holes
sagittarius a chimneys

These Two Cosmic 'Chimneys' Could Be Fueling the Galaxy-Sized Bubbles Looming Over the Milky Way

By Brandon Specktor published

Scientists made an X-ray map of the center of the galaxy — and they found two chimneys of plasma.

Cosmology
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