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.
Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets around single stars, but few around binary stars—even though both types of stars are equally common. Physicists can now explain the dearth.
Astronomy
Jan 30, 2026
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For those who watch gravitational waves roll in from the universe, GW250114 is a big one. It's the clearest gravitational wave signal from a binary black hole merger to date, and it gives researchers an opportunity to test ...
General Physics
Jan 29, 2026
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A research team has investigated quasar variability by tracking optical to mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths of variability information. This multiband joint analysis provides an opportunity to probe the dust structure in the ...
Astronomy
Jan 23, 2026
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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 ...
Astronomy
Jan 21, 2026
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It's one of astronomy's great mysteries: how did black holes get so big, so massive, so quickly. An answer to this cosmic conundrum has now been provided by researchers at Ireland's Maynooth University (MU) and reported today ...
Astronomy
Jan 21, 2026
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One of the most vivid portraits of "reborn" black hole activity—likened to the eruption of a "cosmic volcano" spreading almost 1 million light-years across space—has been captured in a gigantic radio galaxy.
Astronomy
Jan 15, 2026
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What we know of the birth of a black hole has traditionally aligned with our perception of black holes themselves: dark, mysterious, and eerily quiet, despite their mass and influence. Stellar-mass black holes are born from ...
Astronomy
Jan 13, 2026
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Astronomers have completed the most comprehensive census of active galactic nuclei (AGN) to date, providing the clearest picture yet of the probability that galaxies of different sizes host active black holes.
Astronomy
Jan 9, 2026
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83
Using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) have revealed the universe's most mysterious distant objects, known as little red dots, may actually ...
Astronomy
Jan 6, 2026
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119
A black hole has shredded a massive star like it was "preparing a snack for lunch," according to a team of scientists at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting (5–8 January).
Astronomy
Jan 6, 2026
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