supermassive black holes

Artwork depicting dust clouds with stars embedded in them orbiting Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Credit: Jack Ciurlo
Weird dust clouds orbiting our galaxy’s central black hole may be weirder than we thought
Phil Plait
Trending on SYFY WIRE in supermassive black holes
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Stars
Tag: Sgr A*
Tag: star formation
Tag: active galaxies

Related tags

Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: ALMA
Three supermassive black holes? In the galactic chaos of NGC 6240, ALMA sees just two
Phil Plait
Artwork depicting the chaos of galactic collision: NGC 6240 is two galaxies colliding, each with their own supermassive black hole surrounded by huge amounts of gas. Credit: Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: ALMA
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: supermassive black holes
Dwarf galaxies have supermassive black holes, too… and some are off-center!
Phil Plait
Comment count Comment count: Trending 1
Artwork depicting a dwarf galaxy, distorted by a previous galactic collisions, with a supermassive black hole in its suburbs. Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: supermassive black holes
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: galaxies
The care and feeding of baby supermassive black holes
Phil Plait
Comment count Comment count: Trending 4
In this piece of art, an active galaxy called a quasar blasts out energy and matter in two jets which blow matter away from it. However, it’s also surrounded by a huge halo of gas (blue) that can fall toward the center.
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: galaxies
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Black Holes
So, about that 'too massive' black hole… yeah, not so much.
Phil Plait
Dec 11, 2019
Comment count Comment count: Trending 4
Artist’s depiction of a blue star orbiting a black hole… except this depiction for the purported 70 solar mass black hole is incorrect. That gas orbits the whole system. Credit: Jingchuan Yu / Beijing Planetarium (modified by Phil Plait)
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Black Holes
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: galaxy collisions
A galaxy with *three* supermassive black hole hearts
Phil Plait
Dec 10, 2019
hst_ngc6240_bigNGC 6240, a relatively nearby galactic collision. Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: galaxy collisions
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: supermassive black holes
The wind from a galaxy's supermassive black hole helps make stars… in other galaxies
Phil Plait
Nov 27, 2019
Artist drawing of a blazar, a galaxy with a supermassive black hole spewing out energy. Credit: DESY, Science Communication Lab
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: supermassive black holes
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Milky Way
Our local supermassive black hole shot a star right out of the galaxy
Phil Plait
Nov 13, 2019
Comment count Comment count: Trending 2
Artwork depicting the ejection of one star in a binary system by a supermassive black hole. Credit: James Josephides (Swinburne Astronomy Productions)
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Milky Way
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: supermassive black holes
Why is this anemic galaxy’s central black hole so beefy?
Phil Plait
Nov 1, 2019
Comment count Comment count: Trending 4
artwork of a black hole accretion disk
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: supermassive black holes
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: galaxies
A little gorgeousness for you, c/o the spiral galaxy M61
Phil Plait
Aug 23, 2019
Comment count Comment count: Trending 1
The center of the galaxy M61 shows the spiral pattern goes right down to the core. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Det58
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: galaxies
Tag: Science
Tag: Black Holes
Tag: supermassive black holes
Wrap your mind around this newly-discovered ultramassive black hole
Jeff Spry
Aug 13, 2019
Black Hole
Tag: Science
Tag: Black Holes
Tag: supermassive black holes
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Black Holes
The supermassive black hole in our galaxy recently erupted… and we don't know why
Phil Plait
Aug 13, 2019
Comment count Comment count: Trending 11
artwork of a black hole accretion disk
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Black Holes
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: supermassive black holes
Measuring a monster: The two *billion* solar mass black hole in NGC 3258
Phil Plait
Aug 8, 2019
Artwork depicting the inner ring of gas and dust around the accretion disk, with the supermassive black hole directly in the center powering everything. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: supermassive black holes
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Black Holes
Peering down the cliff of infinity: The first image of the event horizon of a black hole
Phil Plait
Apr 10, 2019
Comment count Comment count: Trending 6
The very first image of the event horizon of a supermassive black hole. This shows the silhouette of a black hole with a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun, located at the core of the galaxy M87 55 million light years away from Earth. Credit: NSF
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: Black Holes
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: active galaxies
Astronomers spot a massive doughnut of material around quasar Cygnus A’s supermassive black hole
Phil Plait
Apr 3, 2019
Comment count Comment count: Trending 5
Cygnus A
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: active galaxies
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: galaxy cluster
A distant black hole powers a colossal galactic fountain
Phil Plait
Nov 29, 2018
Composite image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2597 showing X-rays from background hot gas (purple), radio waves from cold gas falling toward the center (yellow), and warm hydrogen gas (red).
Tag: Science
Tag: Bad Astronomy
Tag: galaxy cluster