Accretion as a research area investigates the physical processes by which diffuse material gravitationally aggregates to form larger astrophysical structures, including planets, stars, black holes, and galaxies. It encompasses the study of accretion disks, angular momentum transport, magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, radiative transfer, and the interplay between accretion flows and outflows or jets. This field integrates analytical theory, numerical simulations, and multiwavelength observations to quantify mass accretion rates, efficiency of gravitational energy conversion into radiation, and feedback on the surrounding medium, thereby constraining models of structure formation, compact object growth, and high-energy phenomena in various cosmic environments.
A popular myth about black holes is that they act like giant cosmic vacuum cleaners, sucking in everything around them. But Wladimir Lyra's research found a new mechanism around supermassive black holes that is more like ...
Astronomy
Aug 13, 2026
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More than 70% of massive stars are born in close binary systems, where gravitational tugs and mass transfer between companions dramatically alter their evolution. Yet once the interaction ends—whether through mass transfer, ...
Astronomy
Aug 12, 2026
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For more than two decades, the quasar PHL 1811 has been considered the prototype of a rare class of "intrinsically X-ray weak" quasars, thought to produce unusually little X-ray radiation. But in 2024, the Einstein Probe ...
Little red dots have puzzled astronomers since their discovery in James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data from the universe's deep past. Their "powering engines" might resemble a newly discovered phenomenon dubbed a "black ...
Astronomy
Aug 12, 2026
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An international team of astronomers led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics has identified three actively accreting supermassive black holes in the galaxy J0148-4214. Matter is falling into the black ...
Astronomy
Aug 12, 2026
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Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) is a partner, have captured the first direct, high-resolution ...
Astronomy
Aug 11, 2026
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Black holes are often portrayed as cosmic gluttons that swallow everything that comes too close. But new observations of a dramatic black hole outburst—led by Warwick Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Noel Castro Segura—suggest the ...
Astronomy
Jul 30, 2026
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For the third time in 35 years, the black hole at the center of the galaxy IC 3599 has erupted, and this time, astronomers were watching it closely. IC 3599, a galaxy roughly 280 million light-years away, has flared this ...
Despite their depiction as massive monsters that simply suck in everything, including light, astronomers know black holes actually spin. And they spin really, really quickly. Determining just how quickly is key to understanding ...
Astronomy
Jul 15, 2026
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Astronomers are closer to solving the mystery of how supermassive black holes feed themselves thanks to new images from the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST. The images provide the clearest view ever seen of gaseous filaments ...
Astronomy
Jul 14, 2026
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