Articles tagged with Black Holes
An international team detected a very hot, dense outflowing wind close to a black hole at least 25,000 light-years from Earth. The gas was emitted in bursts that repeated every 8 minutes, revealing unprecedented behavior around a black hole.
Researchers using ALMA observe a swirling disk of cold interstellar gas rotating around a supermassive black hole, NGC 3258. The study provides an unprecedented close-up view of the disk's rotation, allowing for the determination of the black hole's mass as 2.25 billion solar masses.
A UCLA-led team, led by Andrea Ghez, has conducted the most comprehensive test of general relativity near a supermassive black hole. Their analysis confirms that Einstein's theory is still valid but also reveals its vulnerability in explaining gravity inside a black hole.
Researchers detected gravitational redshift in star orbiting Sagittarius A* black hole, consistent with general relativity. The findings provide a 'transformational change' in understanding supermassive blackholes and their physics.
Researchers observed a supermassive black hole in galaxy NGC 3147 with an unusual thin disk of gas swirling around it, contrary to predictions. The team used Hubble Space Telescope's STIS instrument to study the disk, revealing unique features that can only be explained by Einstein's theories of relativity.
A team of astronomers has discovered a pair of titanic supermassive black holes on a collision course, which will soon emit powerful gravitational waves dwarfing those from smaller black hole mergers. The discovery can aid in estimating the number of nearby supermassive black holes emitting detectable gravitational waves.
A supermassive black hole at the centre of jellyfish galaxy JO201 is stripping away gas and throwing it out into space, accelerating the suppression of star formation. This process, known as ram-pressure stripping, has caused a brief increase in star formation due to the compression of clouds of gas.
A study of 561 healthy adults found an average of five unidentified health problems per person, including undiagnosed high blood pressure and hearing loss. Regular health checks can help identify these issues and improve health outcomes through individualized screening and self-management recommendations.
Researchers at Western University found evidence for direct formation of massive black holes without stellar remnants. The new model explains observed distribution of supermassive black hole masses and luminosities, providing an explanation for their presence at an early stage in the universe.
Researchers found that access to online job opportunities has not led to greater equality in the hiring process. Instead, lower-wage jobs are highly competitive, while higher-wage positions have limited openings.
New research suggests that most of Earth's heavy elements, including gold and platinum, were spewed from collapsars, a rare type of star explosion. This finding challenges the widely held belief that these elements come from collisions between neutron stars or black holes.
Astrophysicist Allison Kirkpatrick announces the discovery of cold quasars, galaxies with abundant cold gas that can still form new stars despite having a quasar at the center. This breakthrough finding overturns assumptions about galaxy maturation and may represent a previously unknown phase in every galaxy's lifecycle.
Researchers used reverberation mapping to determine the mass of NGC 4395's black hole, finding it to be about 10,000 times the mass of our sun. This is the smallest black hole found via this technique and provides new insights into dwarf galaxies and their nuclear black holes.
Researchers create most detailed simulation of black hole, proving theoretical predictions about accretion disks. The inner-most region of an accretion disk aligns with its black hole's equator, solving a longstanding mystery from 1975.
Researchers have imaged a never-before-seen disk of cool, interstellar gas wrapped around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The disk is composed of phenomenally hot and comparatively cooler gases, with temperatures ranging from 10 million to 10 thousand degrees Celsius.
Astronomers have discovered rapidly swinging jets from a black hole in V404 Cygni, behaving in a way never seen before. The jets are thought to be caused by the misalignment of the accretion disk and the black hole, resulting in a wobble-like motion.
A team of researchers unveiled an image of the shadow cast by a black hole at the center of galaxy Messier 87, using the Event Horizon Telescope and supercomputers like Stampede1 and Stampede2. The image confirms that supermassive black holes exist and match the appearance expected from simulations.
West Virginia University researchers aim to unlock secrets of gravitational waves from binary black hole collisions with public computing power. They are building a website with downloadable software to generate self-consistent simulations, covering gaps in knowledge about gravitational wave parameters.
A Harvard physicist has shown that wormholes can exist and are theoretically useful for quantum gravity research. However, travel through them would be slower than direct travel, making it impractical for space exploration.
A team of international astronomers, including those from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, have successfully captured the first direct image of a supermassive black hole's event horizon. The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87, a massive galaxy 55 million light-years from Earth.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has captured the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole, located 55 million light-years from Earth. The image reveals the black hole's mass is 6.5-billion times that of the Sun.
The first real image of a black hole, obtained by EHT telescopes, confirms the predictions made in Jean-Pierre Luminet's 1979 simulation. The image shows an extraordinary accuracy, with characteristics such as the Einstein effect and Doppler shift clearly visible.
Scientists have captured the first-ever image of a black hole, which reveals the massive black hole at the center of the galaxy Messier 87. The image was achieved using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an unprecedented Earth-sized virtual telescope linking telescopes around the globe.
The Event Horizon Telescope project has captured the first-ever image of a black hole, located at the heart of galaxy Messier 87. The image reveals a ring-like structure with a dark central region, confirming our understanding of general relativity.
The 2019 APS April Meeting features talks on Event Horizon Telescope project's first results, nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers, and the proposed AMEGO mission. These discoveries shed light on black holes, dark matter, and the universe's evolution.
Astronomers have made the first direct image of a dusty, doughnut-shaped feature surrounding a supermassive black hole in Cygnus A, a galaxy 760 million light-years from Earth. The feature, known as a torus, helps explain why objects with similar properties appear differently when viewed from different angles.
An international team of researchers used the Subaru telescope to detect primordial black holes using gravitational lensing effects. The study found that these black holes can contribute no more than 0.1% to all dark matter mass, ruling out their theory as a primary composition.
Astronomers have discovered two 'galactic center chimneys' that funnel matter and energy away from the Milky Way's central black hole, which could provide clues about the rate of star production in other galaxies. The chimneys are linked to giant structures known as the Fermi bubbles, which straddle the galaxy's center.
A team of astronomers has discovered 83 quasars powered by supermassive black holes in the early Universe, increasing the number of known black holes at that epoch. The survey reveals the average spacing between supermassive black holes is a billion light-years, providing insights into their origin.
Researchers have discovered 83 supermassive black holes powering quasars 13 billion years ago, shedding light on their formation and evolution. This finding increases the number of known black holes at that epoch and provides new insights into their impact on the early universe's gas state.
Researchers demonstrated scrambling of information in a quantum computer, simulating the behavior of matter inside a black hole. They showed that entangled qubits could potentially be used to probe the mysterious interiors of black holes.
Researchers at Joint Quantum Institute demonstrate a new way to distinguish between quantum scrambling and true information loss using a small quantum computer. They achieved an accuracy of 80% in correctly diagnosing scrambling with seven atomic ions.
Astronomers have discovered an intermediate-mass black hole, 30,000 times the mass of the Sun, hidden within a gas cloud near the Galactic center. The finding provides new insight into black hole growth and evolution, suggesting that small black holes can merge to form larger ones.
A precise definition of a black hole's singularity proves elusive, with diverse definitions among physicists and different physical approaches to understanding the phenomenon.
The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) has discovered over 1,100 supernovae, two black holes, and 50 near-Earth asteroids since its operations began in March 2018. The facility is also conducting a systematic study of transients in galaxy nuclei, aiming to catch stars being ripped apart by supermassive black holes.
Researchers have charted the environment surrounding a stellar-mass black hole using NASA's NICER payload. The study reveals changes in the environment's size and shape, including the corona contracting vertically from 100 to 10 miles at vast distances.
Astronomers have discovered that particle escapees from black holes steal rotational energy through interactions with magnetic fields, resulting in high-speed plasma jets. The new simulations show two main mechanisms: the Blandford-Znajek process and a particle-boosting mechanism near the equator.
Researchers have combined decades-old theories to provide insight into the driving mechanisms of plasma jets in black holes. The simulations describe how twisting magnetic fields and 'negative-energy' particles produce these powerful displays, allowing black holes to steal energy and propel it far from their event horizons.
Massive black holes may have formed in rare, densely populated areas of the early universe, a new study suggests. The team used simulations to model the growth of dark matter halos and found that rapid assembly prevented normal star formation, leading to black hole formation instead.
A recent study using high-precision polarization measurements of five gamma-ray bursts has found that GRBs oscillate in the same direction within short time slices, with the oscillation direction changing over time. The results challenge previous theoretical models and provide new insights into the physics of GRB prompt emissions.
Researchers discovered that photons emitted during black hole creation appear to be disordered, yet highly ordered within short time slices. This contradicts theories of either complete polarization or randomness, presenting new challenges for understanding the birth environment of black holes.
A Tel Aviv University-led study finds that some supermassive black holes are triggered to grow by suddenly devouring a large amount of gas in their surroundings. This discovery provides new insights into the mysterious growth of these 'giant monsters'.
A Northwestern University-led team captures the moment a star collapsed to form a compact object, such as a black hole or neutron star. The team used multiple imaging sources and a comprehensive approach to study the object's makeup, finding evidence of hydrogen and helium.
Astronomers have observed a rare supernova that provides a unique glimpse into the physics of black hole or neutron star creation. The object, known as AT2018cow, is thought to be the formation of an accreting black hole or neutron star.
A Northwestern University-led team captures the exact moment a star collapsed to form a compact object like a black hole or neutron star, revealing evidence of an accreting black hole or neutron star. The event, known as AT2018cow, was detected in the Hercules constellation and emitted remarkable bright glow.
Researchers used NASA's NICER payload to detect X-ray light from a small black hole (J1820) consuming material from a companion star. Light echoes revealed changes in the environment's size and shape, providing new insights into stellar-mass black holes' behavior.
Researchers have discovered a bright quasar at a time when the universe was less than one billion years old, providing a rare opportunity to study black holes in the early universe. The quasar is fueled by a supermassive black hole and emits light equivalent to 600 trillion suns.
Astronomers have detected a distant quasar from the early universe using Gemini Observatory, which provides critical insights into the formation of galaxies. The quasar is fueled by a supermassive black hole at its center, with mass 700 million times that of our Sun.
A new study has discovered that oscillating X-rays from consumed stars can reveal the mass and spin of a black hole. By analyzing the quasi-periodic oscillation every 131 seconds, researchers found that the signal is representative of the physical properties of the black hole itself.
Researchers detected periodic X-ray signal near black hole event horizon, estimating spin of 50% the speed of light. The discovery uses tidal disruption flare to estimate black hole spin for the first time.
Researchers detected 'echoes' within an X-ray burst from a black hole, suggesting the corona shrinks as it feeds. The corona, halo of highly-energized electrons, significantly contracts from 100km to 10km in just over a month.
Physicists at LSU and Penn State develop new mathematical equations that go beyond Einstein's theory of general relativity, showing that black hole singularities do not exist. The theory predicts a funnel to another branch of space-time instead.
Loop quantum gravity allows physicists to extend gravitational physics beyond general relativity's limitations, enabling the analysis of black hole interiors. The theory predicts a repulsive force that can overwhelm classical gravity, potentially resolving the information paradox at black holes.
Researchers from RIKEN and JAXA use ALMA radio observatory to measure magnetic field strengths near two supermassive black holes. The findings reveal that the magnetic fields are insufficient to heat coronae to one billion degrees Celsius, contradicting previous assumptions.
Researchers from the University of Portsmouth played a vital role in observing four new gravitational waves using LIGO and VIRGO detectors. These findings revolutionize our knowledge of high-mass star formation, evolution, and black hole production, with implications for understanding the universe.
The LIGO and Virgo collaborations have detected 10 stellar-mass binary black hole mergers and one neutron star merger, with six of the black hole events previously reported. The new detections include GW170729, GW170809, GW170818, and GW170823, which are included in a new catalog of gravitational-wave events.
A team of astronomers used ALMA to observe a supermassive black hole in the Circinus Galaxy, finding that gas expelled from the center interacts with infalling gas to create a turbulent three-dimensional structure. This 'donut' structure is not rigid, but rather a complex collection of highly dynamic gaseous components.
The study reveals that gas clouds rapidly moving around a central black hole form the very heart of this quasar. The research is the first detailed observation outside of our galaxy of gas clouds whirling around a central black hole.
Scientists at Radboud University and Goethe University created a 360-degree virtual reality simulation of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. The simulation provides an immersive experience, allowing researchers to study black holes in unprecedented detail.
Researchers discovered trans-galactic streamers flowing into the most luminous galaxy in the universe, W2246-0526. The galaxy is stripping away material from three smaller neighbors, which will fuel its star-forming activity for hundreds of millions of years.