accretion disk
A Black Hole Has Cleared Out Its Neighbourhood
We can't see them directly, but we know they're there. Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) likely dwell at the center of…
A Bizarre Pulsar Switches Between Two Brightness Modes. Astronomers Finally Figured Out Why.
Pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe. These rotating dead stars shoot twin jets of radiation from their poles, usually…
Hungry Black Hole was Already Feasting 800 Million Years After the Big Bang
Black holes swallow everything—including light—which explains why we can't see them. But we can observe their immediate surroundings and learn…
A Monster Black Hole has Been Found Right in our Backyard (Astronomically Speaking)
Using data from multiple observstories, a team of astronomers has discovered a monster blackhole right in our backyard!
A Star has Grown Spiral Arms
Astronomers using the ALMA Observatory have discovered an unusual, massive star near the center of our galaxy, a star that…
A New Idea to Harness Energy From Black Holes
A new study by an international team shows how the physics of a black hole's event horizon could allow us…
A ring of high-energy particles surrounding a black hole suddenly disappeared
In March 2018 astronomers watched a massive black hole surge in brightness. Then over the following year, its ring of…
Black Hole Seen Blasting Out Jets at Close to the Speed of Light
The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has spotted a distant black hole shooting out jets of material, at close to the speed…
Light Behaves Really Strangely Around a Black Hole
A new study led by Caltech researchers show that light can be reflected off of a black hole's disk by…
There’s a Ring of Cool Gas Wrapped Around the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
There's a lot going on at the center of our galaxy. A supermassive black hole named Sagittarius A-Star resides there,…