Astronomers put quasars in their place
A team of UK astronomers, led by postgraduate student Ed Hawkins, has made a decisive step toward resolving an argument that has rumbled on in the astronomical community for decades. The scientists from the University of Nottingham have been investigating the properties of quasars and nearby galaxies. As part of this study, they have overturned... view more... (2002-10-03)
Quasar light variability linked to black hole mass
Quasars are some of the most luminous and distant objects in the universe - and appear to have something in common with ordinary light bulbs. view more (2007-01-09)
Voracious black holes hide their appetite in dusty galaxies
A UK-led team of astronomers reports that they have tracked down an elusive population of black holes growing rapidly hidden behind clouds of dust. view more (2005-08-08)
Astronomers detect stellar ashes at dawn of time
Using a powerful instrument on a telescope in Hawaii, UK astronomers have found ashes from a generation of stars that died over 10 billion years ago. This is the first time that the tell-tale cosmic dust has been detected at such an early stage in the evolution of the universe. view more (2002-04-10)
Cosmic engines surprise XMM-Newton
XMM-Newton has been surprised by a rare type of galaxy, from which it has detected a higher number of X-rays than thought possible. The observation gives new insight into the powerful processes shaping galaxies during their formation and evolution. view more (2008-04-08)
Quasars help trace ancestors of giant elliptical galaxies
By using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) as a `time machine`, astronomers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford in the UK and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore in the USA have been able to trace back the history of massive elliptical galaxies. They have found that galaxies of this kind, which still exist today,... view more... (2002-04-04)
Serendipitous observations reveal rare event in life of distant quasar
A bit of serendipity has given astronomers a surprise view of a never-before-observed event in the birth of a galaxy. view more (2008-10-22)
A simple survey yields a cosmic conundrum
A survey of galaxies observed along the sightlines to quasars and gamma-ray bursts-both extremely luminous, distant objects-has revealed a puzzling inconsistency. Galaxies appear to be four times more common in the direction of gamma-ray bursts than in the direction of quasars. view more (2006-08-01)
NASA's Chandra Finds Evidence for Quasar Ignition
New data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory may provide clues to how quasars "turn on." view more (2006-03-24)
Accretion Discs Show Their True Colours
Quasars are the brilliant cores of remote galaxies, at the hearts of which lie supermassive black holes that can generate enough power to outshine the Sun a trillion times. view more (2008-07-25)
Galaxy 'Hunting' Made Easy
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have discovered in a single pass about a dozen otherwise invisible galaxies halfway across the Universe. The discovery, based on a technique that exploits a first-class instrument, represents a major breakthrough in the field of galaxy 'hunting'. view more (2007-09-17)
Erratic Black Hole Regulates Itself
New results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have made a major advance in explaining how a special class of black holes may shut off the high-speed jets they produce. These results suggest that these black holes have a mechanism for regulating the rate at which they grow. view more (2009-03-26)
XMM-Newton pinpoints intergalactic polluters
Warm gas escaping from the clutches of enormous black holes could be the key to a form of intergalactic 'pollution' that made life possible, according to new results from ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory, published today. view more (2007-04-23)
Hubble spies shells of sparkling stars around quasar
New images taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope - part of a research project led by UC Riverside's Gabriela Canalizo - have revealed the wild side of an elliptical galaxy, nearly two billion light-years away, that previously had been considered mild-mannered. view more (2007-10-26)
The Last Cry Of Matter
'Black holes' are truly black. When an object gets within a certain distance from a black hole, it will get swallowed forever with no chance to escape. That includes light, which means that black holes do not shine. How do astronomers detect black holes if they are unable to see them? Well, to be precise, astronomers do not detect black holes.... view more... (2003-11-27)
Black hole in search of a home
The detection of a super massive black hole without a massive host galaxy is the surprising result from a large Hubble and VLT study of quasars. view more (2005-09-15)
MAGIC discovers variable very high energy gamma-ray emission from a microquasar
In a recent issue of Science Magazine, the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray ImagingCherenkov (MAGIC) Telescope has reported the discovery of variable very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission from a microquasar. view more (2006-05-19)
Mystery of missing hydrogen
Something vital is missing in the far distant reaches of the Universe: hydrogen - the raw material for stars, planets and possible life. view more (2008-11-24)
Sacred constant might be changing
Physical constants are one of the cornerstones of physics - sacred numbers which we know to be fixed - but what if some of these constants are changing? Speaking at the Institute of Physics conference Physics 2005, Dr Michael Murphy of Cambridge University will discuss the "fine structure constant" - one of the critical numbers in the... view more... (2005-04-05)
Examination of radiation left from birth of universe could alter theories
Using relic radiation from the birth of the universe, astrophysicists at the University of Illinois have proposed a new way of measuring the fine-structure constant in the past, and comparing it with today. view more (2007-04-03)
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