Articles tagged with Black Holes
Astronomers were surprised to find that a black hole is ejecting material at half the speed of light nearly three years after shredding a nearby star. The delayed outflow challenges scientists' understanding of black hole feeding behavior, with one researcher likening it to a 'black hole burping'.
Astronomers have discovered a rare system featuring a black hole spewing a jet at a neighboring galaxy, providing insights into radio jet feedback and its impact on star formation. The unique nature of RAD12 has allowed researchers to study the interaction between the black hole's jet and the companion galaxy.
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can survive in the vicinity of supermassive black holes at the centers of active galaxies. This challenges previous studies that predicted their destruction, and reveals new insights into galaxy evolution.
A research team proposes that magnetic reconnection around black holes energizes plasma, producing copious electron-positron pairs loaded into radio jets. This explanation aligns with M87 observations and predicts short-term X-ray emission when plasma is loaded.
A new study has created the first map of the Milky Way's ancient dead stars, which reveals a 'galactic underworld' stretching three times the height of the galaxy. The map shows that almost a third of objects have been flung out from the galaxy, with neutron stars and black holes formed when massive stars collapse.
Astronomers detect massive light burst from 'infant' Universe, revealing properties of cosmic explosions. The GRB was triggered by a space explosion that occurred when the Universe was less than 900 million years old.
The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration successfully captured an image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, a major breakthrough in astrophysics. This achievement will enable scientists to test fundamental predictions of general relativity and gain insights into the formation and evolution of galaxies.
A Northwestern University study reveals that X-shaped radio galaxies can form through a surprisingly simple process. The simulation, which tracked galactic gas far from the supermassive black hole, found that the galaxy's characteristic X-shape resulted from interaction between jets and infalling gas.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham have developed a new model to better understand the impact of oscillations in binary neutron stars on gravitational wave detection. This could significantly improve our understanding of neutron stars and their properties.
A team of researchers used sophisticated imaging algorithms to reveal a thin, bright ring of light created by photons flung around the back of a supermassive black hole. The photon ring, comprising increasingly sharp sub-rings, confirms theoretical predictions and offers new ways to explore these mysterious objects.
A team of researchers used advanced imaging algorithms to sharpen the image of the M87* black hole, revealing new insights into its behavior. The study found a thin, bright ring of light created by photons flung around the back of the black hole by its intense gravity.
Astronomers propose a new method to measure the universe's expansion rate by analyzing the changes in signal properties of black hole collisions. By using the entire population of black holes as a calibration tool, scientists can directly identify and correct for errors, providing a more accurate measurement.
Researchers used Stampede2 supercomputer to simulate star seeding, heating effects of primordial black holes. The study found that these two effects cancel each other out, with little impact on star formation.
The heaviest neutron star detected has consumed nearly all the mass of its companion, growing into a record-breaking object. The study provides constraints on matter's behavior at extreme densities, potentially excluding exotic states of matter.
A new study led by Dartmouth researchers provides the clearest understanding yet of supermassive black holes' life cycles. By analyzing X-ray telescope data and a new data analysis technique, scientists found that accretion rates vary significantly depending on how obscured an object is by gas and dust ring.
A UMass Amherst undergraduate student's work has provided key insight into how galaxies evolve, linking supermassive black hole growth to star formation. The study uses mid-infrared spectra to quantify the connection between these phenomena, paving the way for the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate galaxy evolution.
A team of experts finds a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbor galaxy to our own. The star that formed the black hole vanished without any sign of a powerful explosion.
A team of astronomers, known for debunking black hole discoveries, found a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The newly discovered black hole is at least nine times the mass of the Sun and orbits a hot star weighing 25 times the Sun's mass.
A team of scientists led by Clemson University's Marco Ajello has provided conclusive evidence that astrophysical neutrinos come from blazars, which are powerful black holes. This breakthrough resolves the long-standing question about the origin of high-energy cosmic rays.
Astronomers observe a star's destruction and discover that most of its material forms a spherical cloud, blocking high-energy emissions. The polarization of light from the event reveals symmetry in the cloud.
Researchers at University of Cologne and Masaryk University discovered a star, S4716, orbiting Sagittarius A* in just four years and reaching speeds of 8000 kilometers per second. The study sheds new light on the origin and evolution of fast-moving stars near black holes.
A Northwestern University-led team developed a 3D simulation of jet evolution, explaining GRB blinking and rarity. The new model shows that GRBs are punctuated by quiet moments due to wobbling jets, which also indicate they are rarer than previously thought.
A team of scientists used the flickering light of gas around a black hole to construct an accurate model of our galaxy's central black hole. They found that gas is directly infalling from large distances, rather than being siphoned off over time.
Researchers at UC Berkeley have detected a possible free-floating black hole in the Milky Way galaxy using gravitational microlensing. The object's mass is estimated to be between 1.6 and 4.4 times that of the sun, but its nature as a black hole or neutron star remains uncertain.
A team of physicists discovered that clouds of ultralight particles around rotating black holes leave a characteristic imprint on gravitational waves. This finding suggests the existence of new particles with very low mass, predicted by several theories beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.
A team of astronomers found that black holes played a crucial role in preventing rejuvenated star formation in massive quiescent galaxies. By analyzing the combined light from thousands of galaxies, they discovered a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus that may have heated the galaxy's gas, preventing new stars from forming.
Astronomers used the Cosmic Evolution Survey to discover active supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. These findings suggest that a supermassive black hole can disrupt gas and prevent star formation, leading to the sudden end of galaxy star formation.
Researchers have found that stars in distant galaxies are typically more massive than those in the Milky Way, changing our understanding of astronomical phenomena like black holes, supernovae, and galaxy death. This discovery may also explain why galaxies die and stop forming new stars.
Researchers have found a significant number of massive black holes in dwarf galaxies, contradicting previous assumptions that they are rare. The newly discovered black holes offer insights into the life story of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole and its potential mergers with other galaxies.
The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration has captured the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. The image reveals a dark central region surrounded by a bright ring-like structure, indicating the presence of a massive object four million times more massive than our Sun.
A team of astronomers, including those from MIT's Haystack Observatory, has captured the light around our own supermassive black hole, revealing for the first time an image of Sagitarrius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The resulting image reveals SgrA* in a glowing, donut-shaped ring of light.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has captured the first image of Sagittarius A*, a black hole at the center of the Milky Way, revealing a ring-like structure and shadow. The observation confirms Einstein's theory of general relativity and provides new insights into giant black holes.
A team of University of Illinois researchers, led by Charles Gammie, has captured the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The image reveals a dark central region surrounded by a bright ringlike structure, providing valuable clues about the workings of such giants.
The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, led by Caltech's Katherine L. Bouman, generated the first image of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) using data from eight radio observatories worldwide. The resulting image confirms Sgr A* is a supermassive black hole with a mass nearly four million times that of the sun.
The Event Horizon Telescope captured the first image of Sagittarius A*, a hot and dense black hole surrounded by superheated gas, improving our understanding of black holes. The Frontera supercomputer supported this achievement through innovative data-driven astronomy.
Researchers developed a technique to study supermassive black holes smaller than M87's by measuring the brightness of their shadows over time. The 'shadow' signal can reveal the size and shape of a black hole's event horizon, shedding light on gravity's nature.
Researchers discover innovative method to test Unruh effect in lab settings, enabling experimentation with high-intensity lasers. They also find acceleration-induced transparency, a phenomenon that could aid in unifying Einstein's general relativity with quantum mechanics.
Researchers have identified the rarest type of black widow binary yet, featuring a pulsar and a third star that orbits every 10,000 years. The system, ZTF J1406+1222, has the shortest orbital period ever recorded, with the pulsar and companion star circling each other in just 62 minutes.
Researchers find that black holes go through a 'hard' and 'soft' state during outbursts, with the final flash possibly indicating a brief expansion of the corona. The findings help scientists understand how supermassive black holes shape galaxy formation.
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission enables new measurements of cosmic X-ray sources, such as pulsars, black holes, and neutron stars. With its state-of-the-art telescopes and detectors, IXPE will provide high-quality polarization data of various sources, including supernova remnants, active galaxies, and blazars.
Researchers used Chandra X-Ray Observatory to detect X-ray signatures of black holes in nuclear star clusters across 108 galaxies. The study found that above a certain mass and density threshold, these clusters emit x-ray signatures indicative of a black hole at twice the rate below the threshold.
A Northwestern University astrophysics team proposes that fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) originate from the cocoons of jets launched by dying stars. The new model, fully consistent with all FBOT observations, suggests that as the jet pushes the cocoon outward, it cools and releases heat, emitting an observed FBOT emission.
Astronomers identify GNz7q, a dusty compact object with properties of both galaxies and quasars, born 750 million years after Big Bang. The discovery provides new insights into the rapid growth of supermassive black holes in early universe.
Astronomers have identified a rapidly growing black hole in the early universe, GNz7q, which is considered a crucial 'missing link' between young star-forming galaxies and the first supermassive black holes. The team used Hubble data to determine that GNz7q existed just 750 million years after the big bang, with properties consistent w...
Researchers found a missing link between galaxies and quasars, discovering a supermassive black hole in archived Hubble Space Telescope data. The object, GNz7q, appears to be a black hole just starting to overpower its host galaxy in the process of becoming a quasar.
Researchers have spotted the most distant astronomical object ever: a galaxy named HD1, 13.5 billion light-years away. The team proposes two ideas: HD1 may be forming stars at an astounding rate and possibly home to Population III stars or contain a supermassive black hole about 100 million times the mass of our Sun.
Astronomers have been searching for low-frequency gravitational waves by monitoring pulsar pulses, but now NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope can also be used to detect these waves. The satellite's high-energy light provides a clearer view of pulsars and offers an independent method to detect gravitational waves.
Astronomers used over a decade of Fermi data to search for signs of long gravitational waves from supermassive black hole pairs. Although no waves were detected, the analysis shows that with more observations, these waves may be within Fermi's reach.
Researchers proved a conjecture on quantum complexity growth, contradicting the Brown-Susskind intuition that complexity increases linearly for astronomically long times and then remains maximum. Instead, complexity grows linearly with time until it saturates at an exponential point related to system size.
Researchers from Purdue University and other institutions have discovered a supermassive black hole binary system, consisting of two black holes that orbit each other. The system is significant due to its close separation, which may lead to a merger releasing massive energy in gravitational waves.
Researchers at Brookhaven Lab propose a cosmological phase transition as the key to supermassive black hole formation in the early universe. This process, facilitated by ultralight dark matter particles, enabled efficient collapse of matter into black holes.
Researchers propose a new mechanism for eccentric black hole mergers, suggesting that interactions between three black holes in a flat disk environment could lead to chaotic orbits. This finding challenges previous studies on the rarity of such events.
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have discovered a simplified model for quantum gravity called the 'holographic principle' that describes how gravity emerges from quantum mechanics. This breakthrough may also offer new insights into mysterious dark energy.
Researchers have leveraged quantum information theory techniques to amplify entanglement in the Hawking effect, a process previously difficult to test due to the faint nature of Hawking radiation. By illuminating event horizons with appropriately chosen quantum states, they can tunably stimulate entanglement production.
Astronomers have found that the HR 6819 system, once thought to be the closest black hole to Earth, is actually a binary system without a black hole. The discovery was made using new data from ESO's Very Large Telescope and Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instruments.
A team of astronomers discovered neutron stars blowing hot, warm and cold winds while consuming matter from a nearby star. The discovery provides key information about the behaviors of these extreme cosmic objects, which contribute to the formation of new stars and galaxy evolution.
A recent analysis of the 2017 GW170817 merger suggests that a rapid spin delay may have prolonged the merger, producing excess X-ray emissions. The radiation is thought to be produced by shocked material in the circumbinary medium, hinting at a bounce from the delayed collapse.
For the first time, scientists have measured a large difference between a black hole's rotation axis and the axis of its orbiting binary star system. This finding forces astronomers to add a new dimension to their models, offering new insights into black hole formation and physics.
Researchers from the University of Turku found that a black hole's axis of rotation is tilted more than 40 degrees relative to the orbiting stellar body. This extreme misalignment challenges current theoretical models and opens up new prospects for studying black hole formation and evolution.
Researchers have found evidence for two supermassive black holes orbiting each other every two years, with masses hundreds of millions times larger than our sun. The quasar's radio-light brightness exhibits sinusoidal variations due to the pair's motion, providing a nearly perfect light curve.