quasars

Galaxy

Mashup of a galaxy and a quasar evolved into a supermassive black hole

Even monsters start out as embryos.

By Elizabeth Rayne 3 weeks ago

Liz Black Hole GETTY

Black holes lurk in literal rings of fire

If there was an Eye of Sauron in space, it would be a black hole.

By Elizabeth Rayne 3 months ago

Quasars

Quasars could blow open what we still don’t know about the early universe

By Elizabeth Rayne 10 months ago

Artwork showing a pair of quasars just a few thousand light years apart, each the center of a relatively normal galaxy that are merging with one another. Such objects should have been more common in the very young Universe. Credit: International Gemini Ob

A new way to find gigantic black holes paired up at the dawn of the Universe

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Artwork depicting a distant quasar, an actively feeding supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy, blasting out jets of matter and energy. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

A quasar at the edge of the observable Universe has its radio turned way up

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Artwork depicting the accretion disk around a supermassive black hole in a quasar, creating a jet of matter blowing outwards. Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva

Another record-breaking quasar with a black hole that’s too supermassive

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

NASA image of CQ 4479

This galaxy is spawning stars too fast for its monster black hole to eat them

By Elizabeth Rayne 1 year ago

Artwork depicting a supermassive black hole surrounded by an accretion disk and magnetic corona, with powerful jets launching away in opposite directions. Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss

How do supermassive black holes launch powerful jets of matter? With hot gas and magnetism.

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

microquasar

The 'heartbeat' of a black hole 'heard' in space for the first time ever

By Elizabeth Rayne 1 year ago

artwork of a black hole accretion disk

A record-breaking quasar poses a supermassive problem

By Phil Plait 1 year ago