Articles tagged with Black Holes
Physicist Samir Mathur proposes that the surface of a black hole is not a fiery firewall but rather a benign copy machine creating an imperfect hologram. This idea counters the prevailing firewall theory and has significant implications for our understanding of the universe as a hologram.
Researchers use ALMA to image massive galaxy SDP.81, located 11.7 billion light-years away, and reveal its inner structure, including giant molecular clouds and supermassive black hole at center of foreground galaxy.
Astronomers have discovered a rare collision between two high-speed knots of ejected matter in a supermassive black hole jet. The finding suggests that shocks produced by collisions within the jet accelerate particles and brighten the regions of colliding material.
Recent research found that supernovas work hand-in-hand with supermassive black holes to sweep out gas, interrupting star formation in galaxies. The partnership of these celestial events may help understand why massive galaxies stopped forming stars billions of years ago.
Astronomers have combined telescopes across the Earth to create the Event Horizon Telescope, which will take detailed images of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The South Pole Telescope has joined the EHT, bringing a two-to-three times increase in resolution to study black holes and test Einstein's the...
Researchers have found conclusive evidence of a black hole in Henize 2-10, a small, starburst galaxy. The team analyzed X-ray observations from four space telescopes over 13 years, confirming the presence of a supermassive black hole with a mass one million times that of the sun.
Researchers found a pulsing quasar in the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey, which could be evidence of a binary supermassive black hole system. The discovery sheds light on the end stages of galaxy mergers and may aid in pinpointing thousands of merging supermassive black holes.
Astronomers have detected an extremely powerful magnetic field close to a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy, revolutionizing our understanding of these cosmic phenomena. The discovery was made using the Alma telescope and reveals new insights into the structure and formation of black holes.
Astronomers have detected strong magnetic fields near the event horizon of a supermassive black hole using ALMA. The findings provide new insights into the mysterious mechanisms driving jet formation, with magnetic fields playing a crucial role in matter escape.
Researchers at RIT studied binary spinning black hole interactions, revealing a long-term spin dynamic that continuously flips the spin until merger. This process may affect the growth of black holes surrounded by accretion disks and alter galactic and supermassive binary black holes.
New research shows that black holes do not erase information, but rather preserve it through the interactions of particles emitted by the black hole. This discovery challenges the long-standing 'information loss paradox' in physics.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured wispy, goblin-green objects outside quasar-host galaxies, revealing insights into galaxy behavior and energetic cores. These 'ghostly' structures are believed to have been illuminated by powerful ultraviolet radiation from supermassive black holes.
A team of astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope has observed a dusty cloud, known as G2, passing close to the supermassive black hole at the galactic center. The observations confirm that the cloud survived its closest approach and is likely a compact object surrounding a dense core.
Researchers connect a black hole's 'wind' to an outward torrent of cold gas in a galaxy, validating feedback mechanisms that influence galaxy evolution. The discovery resolves a long-standing puzzle and sheds light on the relationship between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies.
A study by University of Maryland scientists has found a functional link between supermassive black holes and molecular outflows in galaxies. The research suggests that the black holes' winds are powerful enough to drive these massive outflows, which remove star-making gas and shape the galaxy's fate.
The Canadian Space Agency has delivered its hardware contribution to the ASTRO-H mission, a flagship x-ray astronomy observatory. Professor Brian McNamara will study the effects of black holes on emergent galaxies, utilizing one of the most sensitive spectrometers in orbit.
Researchers at MIT and Michigan State University have developed a theory explaining how galaxy clusters regulate star formation. The study found that hot intracluster gas cools rapidly, condenses, and collapses to form new stars, but also triggers conduction and precipitation-driven feedback, which prevent excessive star birth.
A team of astronomers has found that galactic 'rain' may be the key to understanding why some galaxies are more productive at creating stars than others. The researchers analyzed X-rays from over 200 galaxy clusters using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and discovered that massive black holes can slow down gas that helps form stars.
Astrophysicist Dr. Michael Kesden's research provides new insights into binary black hole mergers and their connection to gravitational wave detection. The solutions can significantly impact the study of black holes and the search for gravitational waves in the cosmos.
An international team of astronomers has found a huge and ancient black hole powering the brightest object in the early universe. The massive black hole is 12 billion times the size of our Sun and lives at the center of a quasar, emitting millions of billions of times more energy than the Sun.
Astronomers have found a super-bright quasar powered by the most massive black hole ever observed for an object from that time, located at a distance of 12.8 billion light years away. The quasar is 7 times brighter than the most distant known quasar and has a luminosity of 420 trillion solar units.
Researchers have discovered the brightest quasar in the early universe, powered by a massive 12 billion solar mass black hole. The quasar's luminosity is equivalent to 420 trillion suns and is seven times brighter than the most distant known quasar.
Researchers detected a nearly spherical stream of highly ionized gas streaming out of the quasar PDS 456, measuring the strength of ultra-fast black hole winds. The discovery reveals that these powerful winds can transfer energy back to their host galaxies and affect star formation.
Researchers used computer code to generate images of wormholes and black holes, discovering multiple images of stars and galaxies near rapidly spinning black holes. This technology has implications for astrophysicists studying black holes and the behavior of light in extreme environments.
Astronomers found a supermassive black hole actively heating and blasting gas in the galaxy J1430+1339, transforming it into an elliptical-type galaxy devoid of gas. The VLA observations revealed powerful jets and winds that remove or destroy raw material needed for star formation.
Researchers designed an X-ray polarimeter, X-Calibur, to study high-energy processes near black holes. The instrument measures X-ray polarization properties to study extreme objects in the Universe.
The discovery of enormous radiation bubbles in the Milky Way's center may hold clues to understanding the galaxy's past and potentially revealing dark matter. Studies of these Fermi bubbles could offer insight into the history of our galaxy, including the activity of its black hole.
Researchers found black holes exist in gravitational theories with broken Lorentz invariance due to universal horizons, which prevent infinite speeds. Universal horizons act like cosmic boundaries that particles can move around but cannot escape, resolving a long-standing paradox.
A team of scientists has developed a new way to measure precise distances to galaxies tens of millions of light years away, using the W. M. Keck Observatory. By measuring the physical size of a dusty ring around supermassive black holes, they calculated the distance to the galaxy NGC 4151 with only 10% uncertainty. This method has the ...
Using supermassive black holes to measure cosmic distances provides precise distance measurements, removing uncertainty in calculating their mass. The new method shows that supermassive black holes are 40% heavier than previously estimated, fundamentally changing determinations of black hole masses.
Researchers at Cardiff University are exploring a new method to detect the origins of gamma-ray bursts using giant space 'microphones' that can pick up gravitational waves created by black holes. By analyzing these waves, scientists may uncover information about the mass and collision history of star and black hole systems.
Researchers analyzing decades of observations detect an unusual source of light in a galaxy, with properties suggesting it could be a supermassive black hole ejected from its home galaxy. Alternatively, the object might have been a rare type of star known as a Luminous Blue Variable that underwent prolonged eruptions.
Researchers have identified an enigmatic object named SDSS1133, which could be a recoiling black hole ejected from its parent galaxy. The discovery, made using high-precision equipment and observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, presents a unique opportunity to study gravitational waves and their detection.
Researchers at Cardiff University have built a theoretical model to predict potential gravitational-wave signals from black hole collisions. The model aims to help scientists identify the correct waveforms and reveal secrets about how black holes orbit and collide.
Astronomers find compact, young galaxies shut down their prodigious star production due to a lack of cool dense gas, rather than supermassive black holes. The energy from the star formation itself creates a shortage of gas within the galaxy.
A team led by Andrea Ghez determined that G2 is most likely a pair of binary stars that had been orbiting the black hole in tandem and merged together into an extremely large star. The research suggests that many of the stars at the center of the galaxy are massive and mostly binaries.
Astronomers have discovered a pulsar that emits an incredible amount of energy, shining brighter than previously thought possible. This find challenges the previous assumption that ultra-luminous X-ray sources are likely black holes.
Astronomers at Ohio State University have observed a star narrowly escaping capture by a supermassive black hole, releasing only a small portion of its mass. The event, known as a tidal disruption event (TDE), provides valuable insights into the growth and behavior of black holes in the universe.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that massive black holes can block the formation of new stars in mature galaxies. The study suggests that these jets of radio-frequency feedback streaming from central black holes prevent hot gas from cooling and collapsing into baby stars.
Researchers analyzed images from the Russian spacecraft RadioAstron and found small spots in the overall image, which they call substructure. This phenomenon can be used to infer the actual size of the underlying source, including the black hole's emission region.
Astronomers have discovered a pulsating, dead star beaming with the energy of about 10 million suns. Pulsars are dense stellar remnants leftover from supernovas, and this one is the brightest ever recorded.
Astronomers discovered a black hole named P13 that is consuming gas from a nearby star 10 times faster than previously thought possible. The black hole is ingesting a weight equivalent to 100 billion billion hot dogs every minute.
Astronomers using NASA's NuSTAR telescope have discovered a pulsar in the Cigar Galaxy, emitting energy about 100 times brighter than predicted. This finding challenges long-held assumptions about ultraluminous X-ray sources and may lead to re-evaluation of other objects previously thought to be black holes.
Researchers have found that stars that oscillate at the same frequency as gravitational waves can absorb energy from those waves and brighten temporarily. This effect could provide scientists with another method to indirectly detect gravitational waves.
Researchers have found a supermassive black hole at the center of an ultra-compact galaxy, M60-UCD1, with a mass of 21 million suns. This discovery suggests that these massive black holes are more common in less-massive galaxies than previously thought.
Researchers found a tiny galaxy, M60-UCD1, hosting a supermassive black hole with a mass of 21 million suns. The discovery suggests many ultracompact dwarf galaxies may contain huge black holes. The team used Gemini North and Hubble Space Telescope observations to estimate the black hole's mass.
Astronomers used Hubble and ground observations to find the M60-UCD1 dwarf galaxy containing a massive black hole. The discovery suggests compact galaxies may be remnants of larger galaxies torn apart during collisions.
Astronomers using Hubble have found the smallest known galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center. The galaxy, M60-UCD1, has a diameter of just 300 light-years and contains 140 million stars, yet it harbors a massive black hole weighing five times that of the Milky Way's central black hole.
New research from Carnegie Institution solves a 20-year puzzle in quasar research by demonstrating that the Eddington ratio is the driving force behind the main sequence of quasars. The study also reveals the importance of an astronomer's line-of-sight orientation in observing fast-moving gas innermost to the black hole.
Researchers have identified an unusual midsize black hole called M82 X-1, measuring around 400 solar masses. The study analyzed six years of RXTE data to detect specific changes in brightness that helped determine the object's mass.
Astronomers have accurately measured a rare black hole about 400 times the mass of our sun in a galaxy 12 million light years from Earth. The finding confirms the existence of intermediate-mass black holes, which were previously disputed due to lack of data.
Researchers propose a solution for the rapid growth of ancient quasars, where small black holes zigzagged through dense gas streams, pulling in material and feeding on it rapidly. This mechanism allowed the black holes to grow at an exponential rate, eventually leading to massive growth rates.
Researchers from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have reported detecting three possible occasions of star destruction by supermassive black holes at galaxy centers. Using data from X-ray orbiting observatories ROSAT and XMM-Newton, they identified three X-ray sources with significant dimming, suggesting the death of a star i...
Astronomers have discovered three closely orbiting supermassive black holes in a galaxy over four billion light years away. The system's tight configuration suggests that these closely-packed black holes are far more common than previously thought.
Researchers detected a clumpy gas stream flowing quickly outwards and blocking X-rays emitted by the supermassive black hole. The discovery provides direct evidence for the shielding process that accelerates powerful gas streams, offering insights into how black holes interact with their host galaxies.
An international team discovered that black hole outflows obscure observations and x-rays, shedding light on their impact on structure formation. The research provides a better understanding of these outflows and their role in regulating growth, using data from multiple space observatories.
An international team of astronomers discovered a clumpy gas stream flowing quickly outward and blocking 90 percent of the X-rays emitted by the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy NGC 5548. The researchers believe this activity provides new insights into the interaction of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies.
Researchers have discovered a rapidly moving gas streamer blocking X-rays from the galaxy's nucleus, indicating a significant decrease in radiation. This phenomenon may regulate the growth of both the supermassive black hole and its host galaxy.
A new study reveals magnetic fields near supermassive black holes can match the force of their gravitational pull, affecting gas dynamics and outflows. Magnetic field strengths are comparable to those produced by MRI machines.
Astronomers have found evidence that two classes of blazars represent different sides of the same cosmic coin, with one class being a gas-guzzling car and the other an energy-efficient electric vehicle. The team's redshift survey revealed that FSRQs began to decline while BL Lacs increased in numbers around 5.6 billion years ago.