Black Holes

Astronomers find the nearest black hole to Earth, and it has a Sun-like companion star

At 1,570 light-years away it's three times closer than the previous record holder.

By Phil Plait | 

1 week ago

Black hole delivery pipeline may feed a nearby galaxy

A medium-sized black hole is headed directly toward another medium-sized black hole.

By Phil Plait | 

1 month ago

Small black holes near big black holes may tear apart and eat stars

Small black holes hook up with stars near big black holes. It doesn’t end well for the stars.

By Phil Plait | 

1 month ago

Another black hole first: Astronomers capture a ring of light as photons orbit M87A*

Eerie black hole photon ring observed for the first time.

By Phil Plait | 

1 month ago

The first dormant black hole likely found lurking in another galaxy

It orbits a monster star but isn't feeding off it.

By Phil Plait | 

2 months ago

One of the Universe’s most powerful explosions tried to disguise itself

Terrifying gamma-ray burst looked like a different kind of terrifying gamma-ray burst.

By Phil Plait | 

2 months ago

Big, bright, massive stars were more common when the Universe was young

New study shows big beasts are more rare nowadays.

By Phil Plait | 

2 months ago

Oh, the huge manatee: A natural particle accelerator quadrillions of kilometers long

The Manatee Nebula is shooting out hugely energetic subatomic particles.

By Phil Plait | 

2 months ago

Wait. *How* big are neutron stars again?

Bottom line: Neutron star sizes are hard to figure out.

By Phil Plait | 

3 months ago

Hubble spies what may be a rogue black hole just 5,000 light years away

The problem is we're not sure it's really a black hole.

By Phil Plait | 

3 months ago