https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. When astronomers look out into the cosmos, they see supermassive black holes (SMBH) in two different states. In one state, they're dormant. They're actively accreting only a tiny amount of matter and emit only faint, weak radiation. In the other, they're more actively accreting matter and emitting extremely powerful radiation. These are normally called active galactic nuclei (AGN). https://phys.org/news/2026-01-intermittent-black-hole-jets-cosmic.html Astronomy Wed, 28 Jan 2026 09:06:34 EST news688813562 We now have direct images of two supermassive black holes: M87* and Sag A*. The fact that we can capture such images is remarkable, but they might be the only black holes we can observe. That is, unless we take radio astronomy to a whole new level. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-radio-telescopes-moon-dozens-black.html Astronomy Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:23:19 EST news688224122 Astronomers using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island have uncovered the largest and most extended stream of super-heated gas ever observed flowing from a nearby galaxy, providing the clearest evidence yet that a supermassive black hole can dramatically reshape its host galaxy far beyond its core. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-galaxy-wide-black-hole-jet.html Astronomy Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:58:01 EST news687110249 Astronomers from Serbia and Russia have conducted deep optical observations of a cloud of neutral atomic hydrogen, designated FAST J0139+4328. Results of the observational campaign, published December 31 on the arXiv preprint server, provide evidence that FAST J0139+4328 is a low-surface-brightness galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-fast-j01394328-surface-brightness-galaxy.html Astronomy Wed, 07 Jan 2026 08:10:01 EST news686938192 If you look across space with a telescope, you'll see countless galaxies, most of which host large central black holes, billions of stars and their attendant planets. The universe teems with huge, spectacular objects, and it might seem like these massive objects should hold most of the universe's matter. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-universe-isnt-planets-stars-galaxies.html Astronomy Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:30:32 EST news684073802 How can star populations help astronomers re-evaluate the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life, also called technosignatures? This is what a study released on the preprint server arXiv, hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the parameters of identifying locations of technosignatures, also called extraterrestrial transmitters. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-hidden-stars-technosignatures.html Astronomy Mon, 01 Dec 2025 08:11:31 EST news683799062 Tracking down black holes at the center of dwarf galaxies has proven difficult. In part it is because they have a tendency to "wander" and are not located at the galaxy's center. There are plenty of galaxies that might contain such a black hole, but so far we've had insufficient data to confirm their existence. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-black-holes-dwarf-galaxies.html Astronomy Wed, 19 Nov 2025 12:02:03 EST news682776121 Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in the universe, with each containing hundreds or even thousands of galaxies. When two of these giants collide, they send powerful shock waves through one another, releasing energy on a scale not seen since the Big Bang. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-galaxy-clusters-unraveling-mysteries-radio.html Astronomy Fri, 14 Nov 2025 12:40:01 EST news682346137 How fast and in which direction is our solar system moving through the universe? This seemingly simple question is one of the key tests of our cosmological understanding. A research team led by astrophysicist Lukas Böhme at Bielefeld University has now found new answers, ones that challenge the established standard model of cosmology. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-solar-faster.html Astronomy Thu, 13 Nov 2025 10:26:27 EST news682251981 The first dual-satellite mission to another planet, NASA's ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers), is scheduled for launch no earlier than Sunday, Nov. 9, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The two identical spacecraft are managed and operated by the University of California, Berkeley, and will fly in formation to map the magnetic fields, upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars in 3D, providing the first stereo view of the Red Planet's unique near-space environment. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-nasa-escapade-mission-mars-twin.html Space Exploration Thu, 06 Nov 2025 10:19:52 EST news681646785 Astronomers from the International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have created the largest low-frequency radio color image of the Milky Way ever assembled. This spectacular new image captures the Southern Hemisphere view of our Milky Way galaxy, revealing it across a wide range of radio wavelengths, the colors of radio light. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-expansive-view-milky-reveals-galaxy.html Astronomy Tue, 28 Oct 2025 18:00:02 EDT news680797621 For decades, scientists engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) have probed the galaxy for signs of artificial radio transmissions. Beginning with Project Ozma in 1960, astronomers have used radio antennas to listen for possible transmissions from other star systems or galaxies. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-galaxies-high-radio-emissions-home.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Oct 2025 07:16:06 EDT news678521761 Astronomers hunting for evidence of the light from the first stars and galaxies have found that the universe was warm, rather than cold, before it "lit up." https://phys.org/news/2025-09-faint-radio-early-universe-cold.html Astronomy Tue, 30 Sep 2025 09:00:02 EDT news678361532 Astronomers from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany and elsewhere have conducted radio spectropolarimetric observations of a recently identified odd radio circle designated ORC J0356–4216. Results of the observational campaign, presented Sept. 5 on the arXiv pre-print server, shed more light on the nature of this object. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-nature-newly-odd-radio-circle.html Astronomy Mon, 15 Sep 2025 08:55:51 EDT news677145347 Traditionally, black holes are usually thought to "reside" at the centers of galaxies. However, a research team led by Dr. An Tao from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered a wandering black hole in a dwarf galaxy located about 230 million light-years away (redshift z = 0.017). https://phys.org/news/2025-09-astronomers-black-hole-nearby-dwarf.html Astronomy Wed, 10 Sep 2025 10:20:01 EDT news676716354 Using the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT), astronomers have performed radio observations of the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster. Results of the observations, published August 26 in The Astrophysical Journal, deliver important insights into the nature of a fossil radio lobe in this cluster. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-astronomers-giant-radio-fossil-ophiuchus.html Astronomy Thu, 04 Sep 2025 10:00:08 EDT news676198510 In 2009, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory released a captivating image: a pulsar and its surrounding nebula that is shaped like a hand. Since then, astronomers have used Chandra and other telescopes to continue to observe this object. Now, new radio data from the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) has been combined with Chandra's X-ray data to provide a fresh view of this exploded star and its environment, to help understand its peculiar properties and shape. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-astronomers-combine-ray-radio-pulsar.html Astronomy Wed, 20 Aug 2025 17:05:03 EDT news674928301 Answers to some of cosmology's most pressing questions are obscured by simple dust. It concerns the Cosmic Noon, a period of time that began around 2 billion years after the Big Bang, when nearly all galaxies experienced a burst of growth and rapid star formation. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-cosmic-noon-galaxies-emit-rays.html Astronomy Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:48:04 EDT news674740082 Using the MeerKAT radio telescope, an international team of astronomers have discovered a new fast radio burst, which received designation FRB 20240304B. The measured redshift of FRB 20240304B indicates that it is the most distant fast radio burst known to date. The finding was reported in a research paper published August 3 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-astronomers-distant-fast-radio-billion.html Astronomy Tue, 12 Aug 2025 06:26:05 EDT news674198751 Fast radio bursts (FRBs) last around a millisecond, and in doing so, encode otherwise unattainable information on the plasma which permeates our universe, providing insights into magnetic fields and gas distributions. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-astronomers-distant-fast-radio.html Astronomy Mon, 11 Aug 2025 16:10:02 EDT news674146945 Astronomers using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the Very Large Array (VLA) have caught a supermassive black hole in the act of awakening from a long slumber, providing an unprecedented glimpse into the earliest stages of black hole activity. The discovery offers new insights into how these cosmic giants begin to influence their environments and could help solve longstanding puzzles about galaxy evolution. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-astronomers-supermassive-black-hole.html Astronomy Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:19:52 EDT news674133588 Plenty of groups have been theorizing about primordial black holes (PBHs) recently. That is in part because of their candidacy as a potential source of dark matter. But, if they existed, they also had other roles to play in the early universe. According to a recent draft paper released on the arXiv preprint server by Jeremy Mould and Adam Batten of Swinburne University, one of those roles could be as the seeds that eventually form both quasars and radio galaxies. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-primordial-black-holes-seeds-quasars.html Astronomy Mon, 28 Jul 2025 12:49:11 EDT news672925746 An international team of astronomers has performed multi-band radio observations of diffuse radio emission in a galaxy cluster known as Abell 3558. As a result, the observational campaign detected that the cluster hosts a peculiar mini-halo. The finding was detailed in a paper published July 10 on the arXiv preprint server . https://phys.org/news/2025-07-galaxy-cluster-abell-peculiar-mini.html Astronomy Thu, 17 Jul 2025 08:00:01 EDT news671901449 Yale astronomer Pieter van Dokkum and a team of researchers have discovered an object in space they call the "Infinity" galaxy—two recently-collided galaxies that, together, look like the symbol for infinity. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-infinity-evidence-black-hole-birth.html Astronomy Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:30:05 EDT news671800919 Using the Very Large Array (VLA), astronomers have performed radio observations of a galaxy cluster Abell 2744, nicknamed Pandora's Cluster. As a result, they obtained the deepest high-resolution radio image of this cluster, which provides more insights into its properties. The new findings were published June 25 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-radio-properties-pandora-cluster.html Astronomy Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:30:01 EDT news670580419 Astronomers have uncovered a vast cloud of energetic particles—a "mini halo"—surrounding one of the most distant galaxy clusters ever observed, marking a major step forward in understanding the hidden forces that shape the cosmos. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-discovery-mini-halo-early-universe.html Astronomy Thu, 26 Jun 2025 19:00:01 EDT news670138470 Astronomers have discovered the largest known cloud of energetic particles surrounding a galaxy cluster—spanning nearly 20 million light-years. The finding challenges long-standing theories about how particles stay energized over time. Instead of being powered by nearby galaxies, this vast region seems to be energized by giant shockwaves and turbulence moving through the hot gas between galaxies. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-cosmic-colossal-galaxy-cluster.html Astronomy Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:48:26 EDT news668774901 New observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have captured a rare cosmic event: Two galaxy clusters have collided and are now poised to head back for another swipe at each other. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-galaxy-clusters-chandra-ray-observatory.html Astronomy Wed, 04 Jun 2025 16:05:08 EDT news668271901 Researchers at the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) made the discovery about galaxies by studying the gas distribution that helps create stars. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-galaxies-stars-gas.html Astronomy Wed, 21 May 2025 09:21:03 EDT news667038061 Astronomers have discovered a likely explanation for a fracture in a huge cosmic "bone" in the Milky Way galaxy, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio telescopes. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-chandra-fracture-galactic-bone.html Astronomy Fri, 02 May 2025 10:00:01 EDT news665398213