A team of international researchers, co-led by the University of Cambridge, has used the powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe a galaxy from the early universe that is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Approximately the size of the Milky Way, this galaxy exists around two billion years after the Big Bang and hosts a […]
Black Holes
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Evidence Found for the Origin of Sagittarius A*, the Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way
Supermassive black holes, celestial objects with masses greater than a million times that of the Sun, remain one of the greatest enigmas of the cosmos. These dark giants, located at the center of most galaxies, have an origin that has intrigued scientists for decades. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Nevada, Las […]
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Two of the Hundreds of Known Black Holes in the Universe Emit a Pulse, and Scientists Now Know Why
An international team of astronomers has detected variability, a pulse, in the behavior of the black hole IGR J17091-3624. This phenomenon, nicknamed a heartbeat, has been observed using data from the NICER and NuSTAR space observatories and could offer new insights into the complex processes occurring near these enigmatic cosmic objects. The study, led by […]
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Astronomers Discover Another Massive Black Hole in our Galaxy, this Time very Close to Earth
A team of scientists, including astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), has found a massive “dormant” black hole just 2,000 light-years from Earth. This is the first time a black hole of this size has been detected so close to our planet. The black hole, dubbed Gaia BH3, has a staggering mass of almost […]
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Astronomers Discover Strong Spiral Magnetic Fields at the Edge of the Milky Way’s Central Black Hole
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a global network of radio telescopes that work together to study the mysteries of black holes. Using the EHT, researchers have been able to capture the first-ever image of Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, in polarized light. Polarized light is […]
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Astronomers Create the Largest-Ever Map of Active Supermassive Black Holes in the Universe
A team of astronomers has developed the largest three-dimensional map of the observable universe to date by cataloging the locations of nearly 1.3 million quasars. Quasars, extraordinarily bright cores of ancient galaxies powered by supermassive black holes, allow scientists to trace the expanding structure of the cosmos across billions of years. The international team, led […]
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Scientists Propose the Existence of Gravastars or Gravitational Stars Nested Inside Each Other
Black holes continue to mystify scientists. In 1916, German physicist Karl Schwarzschild proposed a solution to Albert Einstein’s general relativity equations suggesting that the center of a black hole contains a “singularity” — a point where space and time cease to exist. According to theory, within the singularity all physical laws, including Einstein’s general relativity, […]
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First-ever Observation of a Supermassive Black Hole Preventing Star Creation in a Galaxy at the Dawn of the Universe
A quasar is a compact region powered by a supermassive black hole located at the center of a massive galaxy. They are extremely bright, with a pinpoint appearance similar to stars, and are far away from Earth. Due to their distance and brightness, they allow a glimpse into the conditions of the early Universe, when […]