Exotic Objects | Astronomy.com

Want to find a black hole? Pick up a rock

Korey Haynes — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 14:00:00 +0000

While black holes are perplexing at any size, some of the most mysterious are hypothetical primordial black holes, those that sprung into existence in the first second after the Big Bang and some of which are featherweights on the black hole scale. Because black holes collapse matter down to nothing, a black hole with theContinue reading "Want to find a black hole? Pick up a rock"

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This black hole is gulping material 40 times faster than the theoretical limit

Mark Zastrow — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 16:39:02 +0000

For decades, astronomers have puzzled over how the supermassive black holes residing in the center of galaxies form. Now, researchers may have found the biggest clue yet to how these monstrous objects — weighing millions of solar masses — came to exist. An international team used the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) high sensitivity toContinue reading "This black hole is gulping material 40 times faster than the theoretical limit"

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JWST just found a black hole starving its host galaxy to death

Alison Klesman — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Astronomer Francesco D’Eugenio wasn’t looking for a murdered galaxy. His team set out to measure the motions of stars in a distant galaxy and to understand why they appeared so old. Similar massive galaxies in the early universe were typically bustling with new star formation, and D’Eugenio, a scientist at the Kavli Institute for CosmologyContinue reading "JWST just found a black hole starving its host galaxy to death"

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How some black holes maintain long-distance relationships

Mark Zastrow — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 21:17:45 +0000

The European Space Agency’s Gaia emission has revealed two unexpected black holes orbiting stars like our own Sun. One minor problem: we’re not exactly sure how black holes like this should form. But a team of researchers might have an answer. Astronomers can’t directly observe black holes. That’s because by definition they do not emitContinue reading "How some black holes maintain long-distance relationships"

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Could black holes create dark energy?

Alison Klesman — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Black holes are the universe’s shadowy figures, with many millions of them roaming unseen in our galaxy alone. These cosmic heavyweights famously destroy anything that wanders too close, tearing stars and other objects to shreds with their immense gravitational pull. But that may not be the end of the story for those doomed objects. AContinue reading "Could black holes create dark energy? "

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This famous black hole system is actually a triple

Daniela Mata — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Despite their destructive forces, black holes are often seen in with a companion, such as a star, neutron star, white dwarf, or even another black hole. However, a study published Oct. 23 in Nature has found that the black hole binary system V404 Cygni, which contains a black hole and a small star, has anContinue reading "This famous black hole system is actually a triple"

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Astronomers find a mini black hole

Alison Klesman — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Astronomers have discovered a lightweight black hole that’s a bit of a cosmic conundrum. Hypothetically, black hole masses can range all the way from far less than a paperclip to at least tens of billions of times more than the Sun. But observations have revealed a strange scarcity of black holes between about two andContinue reading "Astronomers find a mini black hole"

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Is this black hole jet making stars explode?

Daniela Mata — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 19:33:48 +0000

Supernovae, the violent explosions that occur when stars die, normally happen sporadically within galaxies. However, by shifting the angle of the Hubble Space Telescope’s line of sight toward M87, astronomers recently spotted double the expected amount of supernovae along a massive 3,000-light-year-long jet blasting out of the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. ResearchersContinue reading "Is this black hole jet making stars explode?"

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XRISM’s data debut proves its extraordinary capabilities

Daniela Mata — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 19:40:07 +0000

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) isn’t the first of its kind, but the state-of-the-art spectroscopic instruments onboard have opened new doors for high-energy astrophysics. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) — supermassive black holes that actively gobble material and shine brightly in the resulting chaos — have always held mysteries for astrophysicists. Now, a yearContinue reading "XRISM’s data debut proves its extraordinary capabilities"

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BlackHoleFinder invites you to discover new black holes

Daniela Mata — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 16:43:49 +0000

Are you interested in making astronomical discoveries and contributing to the search for black holes? If your answer is “Absolutely,” then BlackHoleFinder is the perfect app for you. BlackHoleFinder, available for Android and Apple devices, was launched by the Dutch Black Hole Consortium in a bid for the public to assist astronomers in finding astronomicalContinue reading "BlackHoleFinder invites you to discover new black holes"

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