Black Holes

Astronomers and musicians have developed “sonifications” to bring the symphony of the cosmos to a wider audience.

What Does the Universe Sound Like?

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and other researchers have melded astronomy and music to offer a new oeuvre

An illustration of the event horizon of a black hole

A Space Flash Detected in February Was a Black Hole Devouring an Unassuming Star

The bright light was the result of a rare cosmic occurrence known as a tidal disruption event

The Milky Way’s black hole, Sagittarius A*

What the Image of the Milky Way's Black Hole Really Shows

This year’s picture of the swirling plasma around the massive object's edges will help to reveal more about the galaxy’s history and evolution

An artist's impression of the nearby black hole and the star that hinted to its existence. 

Astronomers Discover Closest Known Black Hole to Earth

Researchers believe there may be even nearer ones that have yet to be detected

The afterglow of the gamma-ray burst as captured by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory's X-ray telescope. 

This Powerful Gamma-Ray Blast Was the 'Brightest of All Time'

Astronomers are "in awe" of the high-energy explosion, probably caused by a giant star's death

A cluster of galaxies that Slayton created in Minecraft

This 18-Year-Old Recreated the ‘Entire Universe’ in Minecraft

From the video game's blocks, he built galaxies, a nebula, a black hole and the solar system

An digital illustration of a black hole in space

Hubble Space Telescope May Have Spotted a Moving Black Hole

Two teams analyzed data from NASA’s telescope and found a compact object, which may be either a black hole or a neutron star

The first-ever image of a black hole in the Milky Way

New Research

Here’s What the Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way Looks Like

A team of scientists from around the world collaborated to get a visual peek of the supermassive object

Out of four known types of black holes, stellar-mass black holes are the most common and have masses less than 100 times the Sun.

Astronomers Spot First Lone, Free-Wheeling Black Hole in the Milky Way Galaxy

The massive void, zipping at 28 miles per second, may have been blasted into space by a supernova explosion

An artist’s conception of the James Webb Space Telescope at work.

The James Webb Telescope Successfully Launches Into Space

A rocket carrying the $10 billion dollar invention blasted off Christmas morning and powered up as planned, providing astronomers with a long-awaited gift

A new image of a powerful jet firing out of the black hole at the center of the radio galaxy Centaurus A, taken with the Event Horizon Telescope.

New Research

New Black Hole Image Shows Plasma Jets Blasting Into Space

Researchers say the new, detailed image of the black hole at the center of the Centaurus A galaxy could reveal how its jets formed

Palomar 5 is located about 80,000 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way’s inner halo.

Scientists Discover Bevy of Black Holes in Our Own Galaxy

Palomar 5's unusual cluster may explain some of the Milky Way's star streams and other phenomena

Data collected revealed that a neutron star twice as massive as the sun was swallowed up by a black hole nine times the size of the sun.

Astrophysicists Detect a Black Hole Gobbling Up a Neutron Star in Two Separate Events

Researchers spotted both events using sensors to locate ripples in spacetime that traveled 900 million years to reach Earth

A new image of the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy. The image shows patterns of polarized light around the supermassive black hole, which in turn reveals the structure of the black hole’s magnetic fields.

New Research

Scientists Capture Swirling Magnetic Fields in New Image of Black Hole

The updated picture adds polarization, revealing new details of the stunning cosmic phenomenon

Astronomers have discovered the oldest and most distant quasar in the universe. The quasar, named J0313-1806, formed just 670 million years after the Big Bang some 13 billion light years away.

New Research

This 13-Billion-Year-Old Supermassive Black Hole Is the Oldest Ever Found

Huge black hole is so old it offers a glimpse into the early universe, and so big it challenges ideas of how black holes form

The spinning magnetar transferred a remarkable amount of energy to the debris created by the collision, heating the material up and generating a bright glow.

In a First, Astronomers Witnessed the Birth of a Supermassive Magnetar Following a Glorious Kilonova

The scientists originally thought that the cosmic crash would create a black hole

This visualization shows the merging of two black holes, which emit gravitational waves.

New Research

Scientists Are Detecting More Gravitational Waves Than Ever Before

The LIGO and Virgo teams have spotted 50 total cosmic signals since 2015

This illustration depicts a star (in the foreground) experiencing spaghettification as it's sucked in by a supermassive black hole (in the background) during a 'tidal disruption event'.

New Research

Astronomers Capture Best View Yet of a Black Hole Spaghettifying a Star

The star was compressed and stretched out like a long noodle and when the ends collided, half of its mass ejected into space

An artist’s rendering of the mysterious object, which has a mass about 2.6 times that of the sun and was consumed by a black hole some 23 times the mass of the sun. Astronomers say it's less massive than any known black hole and more massive than any known collapsed star, called a neutron star.

Distant Black Hole Collides With a Mysterious Object

Scientists detect what is either the heaviest known neutron star or the least massive black hole ever recorded

Scientists have recorded footage of a black hole shooting hot gas and energy into space

Watch This Black Hole Spew Gas and Energy Into Space

A new video shows a black hole, about 10,000 light years away from Earth, shooting enormous jets of matter

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