Black holes as a research area encompass the theoretical, observational, and computational study of regions of spacetime where gravity is so intense that no matter or radiation can escape beyond the event horizon. This field investigates black hole formation, stability, and classification (stellar-mass, intermediate-mass, and supermassive), their thermodynamics, accretion physics, jet launching, and role in galaxy evolution. It also includes tests of general relativity in the strong-field regime, gravitational-wave signatures from black hole mergers, numerical relativity simulations, and horizon-scale imaging, integrating methods from relativistic astrophysics, high-energy physics, and computational modeling.
Almost 300 binary mergers have been detected so far, indicated by their passing gravitational waves. These measurements from the world's gravitational wave observatories put constraints on the masses and spins of the merging ...
NASA researchers have discovered a perplexing case of a black hole that appears to be "tipped over," rotating in an unexpected direction relative to the galaxy surrounding it. That galaxy, called NGC 5084, has been known ...
Astronomy
Dec 18, 2024
0
115
An international research team has used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe massive galaxies discovered by the Subaru Telescope in a corner of the early universe known as the Spiderweb protocluster. The JWST ...
Astronomy
Dec 18, 2024
0
87
A research team has proposed a new method to reconstruct the "family tree" of black holes. Published in The Astrophysical Journal, this research offers a way to infer the properties of the black hole progenitors of these ...
Astronomy
Dec 17, 2024
0
84
After taking the first images of black holes, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is poised to reveal how black holes launch powerful jets into space.
Astronomy
Dec 17, 2024
0
296
Also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, M87 is the brightest object in the Virgo cluster of galaxies, the largest gravitationally bound type of structure in the universe. It came to fame in April 2019 after scientists from EHT ...
Astronomy
Dec 13, 2024
0
141
Even matter ejected by black holes can run into objects in the dark. Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have found an unusual mark from a giant black hole's powerful jet striking an unidentified object in ...
Astronomy
Dec 10, 2024
0
236
Could a decades-long debate about the mysterious movements of stars in Omega Centauri, the largest star cluster in the Milky Way, finally be resolved?
Astronomy
Dec 9, 2024
0
221
Astronomers have used the unique capabilities of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to peer closer than ever into the throat of an energetic monster black hole powering a quasar. A quasar is a galactic center that glows brightly ...
Astronomy
Dec 5, 2024
0
537
Dark matter made out of axions may have the power to make space-time ring like a bell, but only if it is able to steal energy from black holes, according to new research.
Astronomy
Nov 25, 2024
1
95
