Black Holes

An Ultra-Fast Outflow Causes Scientists To Lower Mass Estimates Of The Brighest Quasar In the Universe

By Andy Tomaswick - October 07, 2025

Peering back into the early years of the universe requires scientists to make a lot of assumptions. But sometimes, we get better instruments that then allow them to either confirm or replace those assumptions. That happened recently when it came to our study of J0529, a supermassive black hole that is currently the brightest known quasar in the universe. A new paper from a massive team of researchers used the GRAVITY+ instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) Very Large Telescope (VLT) Interferometer to map this unique object’s Broad Line Region (BLR), and thereby calculated a new, updated mass that is 10 times smaller than previous estimates.

Black Holes Have No Hair, But They Do Have Comb Overs

By Brian Koberlein - October 06, 2025

Black have no hair, but the material surrounding them does, and the two can interact in unusual ways. As observations from the Event Horizon Telescope show, the magnetic fields surrounding a black hole can change extremely fast.

The Black Hole That Broke the Rules

By Mark Thompson - September 29, 2025

Black holes, regions of space where gravity is so intense that even light cannot escape, have captivated astronomers for decades. Some are the result of stellar death while others sit at the hearts of quasars, galaxies that shine so brightly they can be spotted from billions of light years away. Understanding how these supermassive black holes grow so massive, so quickly, has been one of the great puzzles of modern astrophysics, however, a new observation using cutting edge technology has just thrown a spanner in the works.

A Black Hole Merger's "Kick" Was Measured For The First Time

By Andy Tomaswick - September 29, 2025

Black hole mergers are some of the most violent events in the universe. Just how violent is becoming more clear in part due to a new paper published in Nature Astronomy. For the first time, it tracks the “recoil” that the newly formed black hole gets from asymmetric gravitational waves that are released during the merger. Turns out they are strong enough to “kick” the new, supermassive combined black hole into motion at a speed of thousands of kilometers a second.

Primordial Black Holes Could Be Triggering Type Ia Supernovae

By Evan Gough - September 26, 2025

A new article published in The Astrophysical Journal explores a new theory of how Type Ia supernovae, the powerful stellar explosions that astronomers use to measure distances across the universe, might be triggered. Traditionally, these supernovae occur when a white dwarf star explodes after interacting with a companion star. But this explanation has limitations, leaving open questions about how these events line up with the consistent patterns astronomers actually observe.

This Rapidly-Growing Black Hole Could Explain The JWST's Puzzling Findings

By Evan Gough - September 24, 2025

NASA's Chandra X-ray space telescope has found a black hole that's growing at an extremely rapid pace. The telescope is seeing the black hole, which has about one billion solar masses, when the Universe was less than one billion years old. Studying its rapid accretion could explain how some black holes become so massive so soon after the Big Bang.

“Black Hole Stars" Could Solve the Mystery of Little Red Dots

By Mark Thompson - September 15, 2025

A bizarre new type of object could solve one of astronomy's most puzzling mysteries. The James Webb Space Telescope spotted some “little red dots” and until now, it’s been thought they were galaxies. Now, a team of astronomers have come up with an alternative theory, supermassive black holes wrapped up in a thick envelope of gas and they are calling them ‘black hole stars!’

LIGO Has Become a Black Hole Discovery Factory

By Mark Thompson - September 14, 2025

Ten Years Later, LIGO is a Black-Hole Hunting Machine lexigault60428 Fri, 09/12/2025 - 10:00 Ten Years Later, LIGO is a Black-Hole Hunting Machine https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/ten-years-later-ligo-is-a-black-hole-hunting-machine

This Wandering Black Hole Has Left Its Galactic Center

By Evan Gough - September 10, 2025

Traditionally, black holes are usually thought to reside at the centers of galaxies. However, a research team led by Dr. An Tao from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered a wandering black hole in a dwarf galaxy located about 230 million light-years away.

New Theory Points to the Universe's Greatest Fireworks Show

By Mark Thompson - August 15, 2025

What if the universe began with a fireworks show? A new theory suggests that supermassive black holes, the mysterious giants found at the heart of galaxies, were born from the universe's very first stars in a spectacular flash of light that ionised all of space before vanishing forever. This dramatic "Pop III.1" model could finally explain how these giant stellar remnants grew so impossibly large so quickly after the Big Bang, while potentially solving several major puzzles plaguing modern astronomy, from the Hubble Tension to the nature of Cosmic Dawn itself.

Researchers Simulate What a Black Hole "Shadow" Looks Like

By Matthew Williams - August 14, 2025

Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists sharpen their understanding of the environment beyond a black hole’s "shadow," material just outside its event horizon.

The Vibrational Lives of Black Holes

By Evan Gough - August 13, 2025

When black holes are disrupted by things like infalling matter or gravitational waves, they vibrate like a bell struck with a clapper. The vibrations decay over time as the black hole returns to an equilibrium state. Astrophysicists can measure these vibrations to learn more about the black hole.

The Eye of Sauron And An Optical Illusion Solve A Cosmic Puzzle

By Evan Gough - August 13, 2025

A stunning new image of a cosmic jet has helped astronomers unlock the mystery behind the unusually bright emission of high-energy gamma rays and neutrinos from a peculiar celestial object. The source is a blazar—a type of active galaxy powered by a supermassive black hole devouring matter at the heart of a galaxy. They have captured what looks like the mythical "Eye of Sauron" in the distant universe and may have just solved a decade-long cosmic puzzle.

Astronomers Capture Rare Birth of Black Hole Activity

By Mark Thompson - August 13, 2025

A supermassive black hole in the act of awakening from slumber haas been detected by a team of astronomers. Using powerful radio telescopes, they observed this sleeping giant as it began to stir for the first time, offering an unprecedented look at how these stellar monsters come to life. Located 6 billion light years away, this giant has been dormant but suddenly roared to life just 1,000 years ago, revealing secrets about how the universe's most powerful forces shape entire galaxies.

Planning for the Ultimate Space Mission

By Mark Thompson - August 10, 2025

What if we could send a probe smaller than a paperclip, yes a paperclip to visit a black hole? It sounds impossible, but one scientist believes this extraordinary mission could become reality within our lifetimes. Astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi has outlined a bold plan to launch microscopic spacecraft toward the nearest black hole, potentially revolutionising our understanding of physics and Einstein's theory of general relativity. While the technology doesn't exist today and would cost trillions, within the next 20-30 years it could become a reality!

A 36 Billion Solar Mass Black Hole Detected Thanks To Gravitational Lensing

By Evan Gough - August 08, 2025

Astronomers from Brazil and the UK have detected what could be the most massive black hole ever found. It's about 36 billion solar masses, which is a stunning 10,000 times more massive than Sagittarius A*, the monstrous supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. This behemoth is about 5 billion light-years away.

Little Red Dots Eat Fast, But Not Faster Than Eddington

By Brian Koberlein - August 05, 2025

Little Red Dots are thought to be young supermassive black holes at the center of early galaxies. That would make them young versions of Active Galactic Nuclei. But Little Red Dots don't emit much x-ray light, and we're starting to learn why.

Is An Elusive Intermediate Mass Black Hole Eating a Star in This Distant Galaxy?

By Evan Gough - July 25, 2025

NASA'S Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have detected evidence of what could be an Intermediate Mass Black Hole eating a star. It's in a galaxy 450 million light-years away, and unusual x-ray emissions highlight its location.

JWST Finds Plenty Of Low Mass Black Holes In The Early Universe

By Andy Tomaswick - July 23, 2025

Black holes played a critical role in the formation of the early universe. However, astronomers have been debating for a long time just how critical, as the information we had about early black holes, which exist at high red-shifts, was relatively limited. A new paper from a group of researchers led by Sophia Geris at the University of Cambridge combined several spectra from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to add some context to the formation of black holes early in the universe, and found that there are plenty of smaller ones lurking around, and lending credence to the idea that black holes of all sizes contributed to the formation of our modern universe.

The JWST Might Have Found the First Direct-Collapse Black Hole

By Evan Gough - July 22, 2025

Stellar mass black holes are created by core-collapse supernovae. These occur when massive stars near the end of their lives collapse in on themselves and form a black hole. Supermassive black holes form through mergers with other massive black holes. But their could be a third kind, called direct-collapse black holes, and the JWST found evidence of one.

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