Black holes
Black holes are regions of space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing — not even light — can escape. Rather than empty space, black holes are chock full of matter that gets squeezed into a teensy space.
Latest about Black Holes
Scientists make lab-grown black hole jets
By Keith Cooper published
By using protons to probe how a magnetic field responds to an expanding plasma, experimenters have replicated the particle jets spewed out by active black holes.
Some black holes have a 'heartbeat' — and astronomers may finally know why
By Paul Sutter published
A tiny fraction of known black holes emit X-ray signals that resemble a human "heartbeat." Now, new research may finally explain the strange phenomenon.
Watch a star get destroyed by a supermassive black hole in the 1st simulation of its kind
By Daniel Price published
Stars that wander too close to supermassive black holes may be violently undone in a process called "spaghettification." New simulations provide the most detailed look ever at the gory interaction.
Astronomers find black hole's favorite snack: 'The star appears to be living to die another day'
By Sharmila Kuthunur published
Astronomers have pinned down a faraway black hole's snack schedule after watching it devour a star across years.
'Final parsec problem' that makes supermassive black holes impossible to explain could finally have a solution
By Jonathan Gilbert published
A new study helps solve the "final parsec problem" that has made supermassive black hole formation impossible to explain, pointing to a strange form of dark matter as the key.
Ultra-rare black hole found hiding in the center of the Milky Way
By Ben Turner published
A potential intermediate-mass black hole is hiding right next to our galaxy's supermassive black hole.
Black hole growth is slowing down in the universe. New research could help explain why.
By Fan Zou, W. Niel Brandt published
Black hole growth is slowing down, suggests a team of astrophysicists who looked back in time across the universe's 13.8 billion-year history.
What would happen if a black hole wandered into our solar system?
By Ashley Hamer published
Black holes aren't "cosmic vacuum cleaners," but what would happen if one wandered into our solar system?
Milky Way's rarest black hole may lurk behind 7 stars that 'shouldn't be there'
By Harry Baker published
Seven strangely-behaving stars in the Milky Way's Omega Centauri cluster may be under the influence of an extremely rare type of black hole, new research suggests.
James Webb Space Telescope sees an ancient black hole dance with colliding galaxies
By Robert Lea published
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have witnessed the dramatic dance between a supermassive black hole-powered quasar and merging galaxies less than a billion years after the Big Bang.
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