Astronomers have used two different telescopes simultaneously to study the violent flares from the supermassive black hole in the centre of the Milky Way. They have detected outbursts from this region, known as Sagittarius A*, which reveal material being stretched out as it orbits in the intense gravity close to the central black hole. picked by AutumnLotus 2 months ago

Astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies, and gas, and the mysterious, unseen "dark matter." While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all. picked by 2manyusernames 1 year ago

A stellar black hole much more massive than theory predicts is possible has astronomers puzzled. The newly weighed black hole is 16 solar masses. It orbits a companion star in the spiral galaxy Messier 33, located 2.7 million light-years from Earth. Together they make up the system known as M33 X-7. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

In a distant galaxy, a star orbiting a massive central black hole strays too close to the insatiable giant and is torn apart. But before it can be devoured, the star lets out one last scream in a flare of light that slowly echoes across the galaxy. Astronomers on Earth pick up this faint call and use it to map the nucleus of the galaxy from which it emanated. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

There is a giant black hole at the centre of our galaxy, a study has confirmed.

The black hole is four million times heavier than our Sun, according to the paper in The Astrophysical Journal. picked by AutumnLotus 4 weeks ago

Astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies, and gas, and the mysterious, unseen "dark matter." While earlier studies have shown holes, or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this new discovery dwarfs them all. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

A sleep-deprived office worker accidentally discovers a black hole and then greed gets the better of him...
Nice short movie picked by wildminou 2 months ago

The most massive black hole in the universe tips the cosmic scales at 18 billion times more massive than the sun, astronomers suggest today at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Even though researchers suggested black holes up to this mass might exist in quasars, this is the first direct confirmation of such a behemoth. picked by AutumnLotus 12 months ago

Astronomers have discovered a super massive black hole about 13 billion light years away from earth. This means it was formed only one billion years after the big bang, when the universe was merely an infant. Cool. picked by Moe 2 years ago

Astronomers have spotted evidence of a second Earth being built around a distant star 424 light-years away. Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have spotted a huge belt of warm dust swirling around a young star called HD 113766 that is just slightly larger than our sun. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

The date of 2008.03.19 marked the brightest ever cosmic explosion observed from the Earth. The outburst denoted as GRB 080319B was probably the death of a massive star leading to the creation of a black hole. Watch video here. picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

Astronomers can't see black holes. And they definitely can't go out and grab a piece of one to measure its mass.

So how do they weigh them? picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

We are close to seeing the true blackness of a black hole. Astronomers have detected radio emission coming from within 30 million kilometres of the dark object, thought to be a colossal black hole, that lies at the centre of the galaxy. Includes video. picked by AutumnLotus 12 months ago

What do you get when you take not one, not four, not eight, but sixteen PS3s and chain them together like some crazy video game test center configuration for extremely lucky children? Simple: The relatively affordable power to answer the question "At what speed to vibrating black holes stop vibrating?" picked by punthe 2 weeks ago

The incredible amount of energy given off across the entire electromagnetic spectrum during a gamma-ray burst is what Jonathan Grindlay of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics calls "the birth pangs of a black hole. This is the scream." picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

The two most massive stars ever discovered are circling each other 20,000 light years away near the centre of the Milky Way. The heavier of the two is 114 times as massive as the Sun – so big that according to some astronomers it should have blown itself to pieces. picked by DrNothing 2 years ago

Black holes can't be seen, but they're detected by noting their effects on stars or gas around them. They're so dense that nothing, including light, escapes them. Only two classes of black holes are firmly established to exist: Stellar black holes typically weigh a few times the mass of the sun; supermassive black holes are loaded with millions or billions of solar masses. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Astronomers have confirmed the binary nature of OJ 287, a very massive black hole, orbited by a smaller one, and the interaction of the system with its surroundings produces brightness changes that allow astronomers to study the evolution of the orbit. This evolution is dominated by one of the most intriguing predictions of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Update on this post. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Spitzer Space Telescopes show that the vicinities around the black holes could be backing up with excess matter - the black holes just can’t consume it fast enough to clear the space. When this happens, the matter heats up, and releases a tremendous amount of energy. picked by 2manyusernames 2 years ago

Astronomers have spotted a small group of young stellar "siblings" in a dusty stellar nursery 848 light-years away. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago