Like gluttonous piranhas, supermassive black holes in young galaxy clusters gorge on bountiful gas until little fuel is left, and then they fade away. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

A new study using results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provides one of the best pieces of evidence yet that many supermassive black holes are spinning extremely rapidly. The whirling of these giant black holes drives powerful jets that pump huge amounts of energy into their environment and affects galaxy growth. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months 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 6 months ago

New research shows that black holes are not the ultimate destroyers that are often portrayed in popular culture. Instead, warm gas escaping from the clutches of enormous black holes could be one source of the chemical elements that make life possible. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year 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

Researchers from Duke University and the University of Cambridge think there is a way to determine whether some black holes are not actually black. Finding such an unmasked form of what physicists term a singularity "would shock the foundation of general relativity." picked by AutumnLotus 1 year 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 1 year ago

How does one weigh a supermassive black hole that is anywhere between a million and a billion times the mass of the Sun? The answer could be as easy as taking a snapshot of its surrounding galaxy. picked by AutumnLotus 6 months ago

A dramatic new Chandra image of the nearby galaxy Centaurus A provides one of the best views to date of the effects of an active supermassive black hole. Opposing jets of high-energy particles can be seen extending to the outer reaches of the galaxy, and numerous smaller black holes in binary star systems are also visible. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Supermassive black holes could leave behind long-lasting infrared afterglows visible to current instruments when they merge, a new study says. If so, scientists could find signs of these mergers much sooner than expected. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

New research shows that black holes are not the ultimate destroyers that are often portrayed in popular culture. Instead, warm gas escaping from the clutches of enormous black holes could be one source of the chemical elements that make life possible. picked by dork 1 year ago

Scientists say they now believe rotating eddies are driving Saturn's jet stream winds, not the other way around. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Scientists could generate a black hole as often as every second when the world's most powerful particle accelerator comes online in 2007. picked by afeldman 2 years ago

This Black Google Portal is easier on your eyes and saves energy. All search results are displayed on google.com with a black background and light text. picked by plimytheelder 2 years 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

Legions of tiny black holes created during the big bang may lurk at the centre of the galaxy, creating a prodigious antimatter factory, a new study suggests. The work could explain where the Milky Way's antimatter comes from – one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Astronomers studying a nearby galaxy have spied a rare type of star system -- one that contains a black hole that suddenly began glowing brightly with X-rays.
Though this type of star system is supposed to be rare, it's the second such system discovered in that galaxy, called Centaurus A. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Like enormous jewel factories in the sky, the chaotic environments around some supermassive black holes crank out prodigious amounts of glass, rubies and sapphires, a new study finds. The inevitable breakdown of these materials into simpler components could account for much of the space dust in the universe — dust that is recycled to make stars, planets, and life. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Hundreds of undetected black holes, each with a mass thousands of times greater than the Sun, might be stealthily roving our galaxy, ready to devour anything that crosses their paths. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

The Black Keys are a blues band out of Akron, OH who have a distinctly gritty sound that is refreshing in todays over-produced industry. picked by donteatpoop 2 years ago