Black Hole

Without more data, a black hole’s origins can be spun in any direction

Researchers say that current results depend on models rather than data. Clues to a black hole's origins can be found in the way it spins,...

Astronomers discover the closest black hole to Earth

Astronomers have discovered the closest black hole to Earth, the first unambiguous detection of a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way. Its close...

Scientists discover a pair of hungry black holes

Astronomers have discovered a galactic table for two — a pair of unusually close black holes that are feeding together after their respective galaxies...

Millions of fake universes clarify how black holes grow

Black holes are surrounded by a mysterious, invisible layer—the event horizon—from which nothing can escape, be it matter, light, or information. The event horizon swallows...

Machine learning reveals how black holes grow

As different as they may seem, black holes and Las Vegas have one thing in common: What happens there stays there – much to the...

A black hole has been burping for 100 million years

Black holes are gluttonous behemoths that lurk in the center of galaxies. Almost everybody knows that nothing can escape them, not even light. So when anything...

A black hole consumed a star and released the light of a trillion suns

When a flash of light appears somewhere in the sky, astronomers notice. When it appears in a region of the sky not known to host...

Astronomers caught a black hole chomping on a nearby star

The universe can be a violent place. Stars die or collide with each other and black holes devour everything that gets too close. These and other...

Scientists discover a black hole jet, halfway across the universe, pointing straight toward Earth

Astronomers identified an extremely bright black hole jet, halfway across the universe, pointing straight toward Earth.

Astrophysicists hunt for second-closest supermassive black hole

As massive as the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, the behemoth is hosted by a dwarf galaxy less than 1...