supermassive black hole

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'Cosmic Beast' in Night Sky Blows Our Black Hole Away

Oldest black hole ever discovered formed just 470M years after the Big Bang

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the oldest black hole yet, a cosmic beast formed a mere 470 million years after the Big Bang. The findings, published Monday, confirm what until now were theories that supermassive black holes existed at the dawn of the universe, per the AP . NASA's James Webb Space...

Largest Explosion Ever Seen Is an 8B-Year-Old Mystery

Outrageously bright light from distant space suggests black hole ate a big, gassy meal

(Newser) - In 2020, a bright light appeared in the night sky. That light, still visible with advanced telescopes today, represents the largest explosion ever seen. You're forgiven for not noticing as this is all happening some 8 billion light years away, though that wasn't clear initially. The light was...

Milky Way's Black Hole Is Unveiled
Milky Way's
Black Hole
Is Unveiled
May 12, 2022 10:04 AM CDT

Milky Way's Black Hole Is Unveiled

Astronomers offer first look at 'gentle giant' Sagittarius A*

(Newser) - The world got a look Thursday at the first wild but fuzzy image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, per the AP . Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black holes at their center, where light and matter...

Star Will 'Die All Alone' After Being 'Evicted' by Black Hole

Launched from Milky Way center, S5-HVS1 is going so fast it won't ever be able to get back to our galaxy

(Newser) - A "serendipitous discovery" has been made, and it's an exciting but bittersweet one. Five million years ago, a star got too close to what Space.com calls the Milky Way's "heart of darkness"—a supermassive black hole named Sagittarius A* — and got hurled away...

Smaller Galaxy on Track to Smash Into Milky Way
Our Milky Way
Is Headed Toward
a Violent 'Merger'
NEW STUDY
Jan 4, 2019 10:39 AM CST

Our Milky Way Is Headed Toward a Violent 'Merger'

But we've got about 2 billion years to prepare

(Newser) - It'll be a fireworks show for the ages, but you won't be around to see it. Consider that a blessing in disguise: The display expected by astrophysicists at Durham University in the UK will only come as a nearby galaxy smashes into our own in about 2 billion...

Milky Way's Center Is a Black Hole 'Farm'

Researchers believe there are thousands

(Newser) - The center of our galaxy is teeming with black holes, sort of like a Times Square for strange super-gravity objects, astronomers have discovered. For decades, scientists theorized that circling in the center of galaxies, including ours, were lots of stellar black holes, collapsed giant stars where the gravity is so...

Strange New Kind of Galaxy Spotted

Infrared survey uncovers 'menagerie of hidden objects'

(Newser) - After two years of scanning the night sky, NASA's WISE infrared telescope has spotted millions of supermassive black holes and a type of galaxy never seen before. The hot, dust-obscured galaxies—hot DOGs—are very rare. Each emits as much light as 100 trillion suns, hidden behind a vast...

Coming Soon: First-Ever Picture of a Black Hole

It will take an array of 50 telescopes to spot its shadow

(Newser) - How do you photograph a black hole, which is normally invisible due to the fact that its gravity is so intense it pulls in even light ? You probably won't be surprised to hear that it's never been done before—and that to do it for the first...

Local Black Hole About to Chow Down

Milky Way's super-massive black hole to devour gas cloud

(Newser) - The super-massive black hole at the heart of our galaxy is about to have a feast—and astronomers think it's going to be messy. A giant gas cloud has been spotted approaching the black hole, which lies some 27,000 light years from Earth. Scientists believe the cloud will...

Vast New Black Holes Shatter Record

They're 10 times the size of our solar system

(Newser) - Ready to have your mind boggled by the awe-inspiring scale of cosmological phenomena? Well boggle away: Astronomers have discovered two black holes bigger than any glimpsed before, with one weighing in as much as 21 billion suns, the New York Times reports. The other clocks in at a mere 9....

Black Hole Spotted Feasting on Passing Star

Gamma-ray burst leads astronomers to 'feeding frenzy'

(Newser) - The super massive black hole at the heart of a galaxy in the Draco constellation has been caught in the middle of a meal—and it's a messy eater. Scientists analyzing an unusually long-lasting burst of gamma rays from the constellation 4 billion light years away believe they are...

NASA: Nearby Black Hole Is Enormous
NASA: Nearby Black Hole
Is Enormous
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jan 15, 2011 12:35 PM CST

NASA: Nearby Black Hole Is Enormous

M87 is bigger than six billion suns

(Newser) - NASA has taken new measurements of a black hole that’s just one galaxy over—and the results are staggering. The black hole, known as M87, is so big that you could fit roughly 6.6 billion of our suns inside it. Black holes that huge are a rare find,...

Black Hole 'Hurled' From Galaxy

Object with the mass of a billion suns spotted moving at high speed

(Newser) - Astronomers believe they have spotted a supermassive black hole being flung out of its galaxy. Supermassive black holes—which have a mass roughly a billion times that of the sun—are usually found at the center of galaxies, but this one is traveling away from the core of its galaxy...

NASA Finds 'Death Star' Galaxy
NASA Finds 'Death Star' Galaxy
Dec 18, 2007 4:02 AM CST

NASA Finds 'Death Star' Galaxy

Phenomenon blasts neighboring galaxy

(Newser) - NASA astronomers have discovered a "death star galaxy" with a super massive black hole that is blasting a neighboring galaxy with deadly radiation. It's the first time scientists have witnessed such a phenomenon. The hungry black hole has been zapping a galaxy 20,000 light years away for about...

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