active galactic nuclei
Sometimes Compact Galaxies Hide Their Black Holes
Quasars, short for quasi-stellar objects, are one of the most powerful and luminous classes of objects in our Universe. A…
The Early Universe Should Be Awash in Active Galaxies, but JWST Isn't Finding Them
Astronomers have found supermassive black holes in the centers of most galaxies. To get the black holes we see today,…
eROSITA Sees Changes in the Most Powerful Quasar
An international team of astronomers observed the quasar J1114 in the X-ray band for the first time, revealing things about…
Advanced Life Should Have Already Peaked Billions of Years Ago
Did humanity miss the party? Are SETI, the Drake Equation, and the Fermi Paradox all just artifacts of our ignorance…
Dust is Hiding how Powerful Quasars Really are
A new study has found that Active Galactic Nuclei are much brighter and similar to one another than previously thought.
Webb’s New Image Reveals a Galaxy Awash in Star Formation
When a spiral galaxy presents itself just right, observations reveal more detail. That's the case with NGC 7469, a spiral…
IceCube Senses Neutrinos Streaming From an Active Galaxy 47 Million Light-Years Away
Researchers using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory have detected neutrinos emanating from the energetic core of an active galaxy millions of…
Webb Sees Organic Molecules in the Hearts of Galaxies, Surprisingly Close to Active Supermassive Black Holes
When the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched, one of its jobs was studying galactic formation and evolution. When we…
Astronomers are Starting to Understand the Quasar Lifecycle
Supermassive black holes have a complicated lifecycle. Sometimes they're "on", blasting out tremendous amounts of energy, and sometimes they're "off',…
Quasars are the Biggest Particle Accelerators in the Universe
We puny humans think we can accelerate particles? Look how proud we are of the Large Hadron Collider. But any…