Black holes

Ophiuchus galaxy cluster explosion

Eye On The Sky Astronomers capture biggest explosion ever seen

A black hole within a host galaxy. Credit: NASA/CXC/INAF/R. Gilli et al.; Radio NRAO/VLA; Optical: NASA/STScI

Eye On The Sky A black hole in its host galaxy spotted 9.9 billion lightyears away

Scientists are watching pulsars carefully to detect the rippling fabric of the cosmos. Credit: dani3315/iStock/Getty Images

Searching for gravitational waves from supermassive black holes

Hot gas in the Phoenix Cluster. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/M.McDonald et al; Radio: NRAO/VLA; Optical: NASA/STScI

Eye On The Sky Supermassive black hole aids star formation in the Phoenix Cluster

A cataclysmic flare, propelled from the heart of the Milky Way 3.5 million years ago, was felt 200,000 lightyears away. Credit: James Josephides/Thorsten Tepper-Garcia/ASTRO 3D

Observations shed light on the history of our Galaxy’s supermassive black hole

An artist’s impression of V404 Cygni shows it drawing in material from a nearby star (left). Jets of gas (right) are released from its disc. Credit: icrar

Black hole jets may be more unpredictable than thought

S5-HVS1 has been speeding away ever since its dust-up with black hole Sgr A* 4.8 million years ago. Credit: hadzi3/iStock/Getty Images, Vadim Sadovski/iStock/Getty Images.

Speeding star reveals the secrets of the Milky Way

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Supermassive black hole imaged for first time

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First image of black hole captured

Not all galaxies are neatly shaped, as this new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 6240 clearly demonstrates. Hubble previously released an image of this galaxy back in 2008, but the knotted region, shown here in a pinky-red hue at the centre of the galaxies, was only revealed in these observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. NGC 6240 lies 400 million light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Holder). This galaxy has an elongated shape with branching wisps, loops and tails. This mess of gas, dust and stars bears more than a passing resemblance to a butterfly and, though perhaps less conventionally beautiful, a lobster. This bizarrely-shaped galaxy did not begin its life looking like this; its distorted appearance is a result of a galactic merger that occurred when two galaxies drifted too close to one another. This merger sparked bursts of new star formation and triggered many hot young stars to explode as supernovae. A new supernova was discovered in this galaxy in 2013, named SN 2013dc. It is not visible in this image, but its location is indicated here. At the centre of NGC 6240 an even more interesting phenomenon is taking place. When the two galaxies came together, their central black holes did so too. There are two supermassive black holes within this jumble, spiralling closer and closer to one another. They are currently only some 3000 light-years apart, incredibly close given that the galaxy itself spans 300 000 light-years. This proximity secures their fate as they are now too close to escape each other and will soon form a single immense black hole. Links Images of Hubble

Secrets of galactic butterfly revealed

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New Horizons and event horizons

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Einstein’s monsters: understanding black holes

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The basics of black holes explained

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Galaxy cluster hidden by black hole brightness

A blazar fires neutrinos and gamma rays billions of lightyears across the Universe until they hit Earth Credit: IceCube/NASA

Rare neutrinos seen coming from a black hole