Black Hole

Scientists recently discovered something incredibly rare in space—a lone black hole drifting by itself through our galaxy. This kind of find is so unusual that they say it’s like winning a cosmic lottery. In fact, the chances of spotting such a black hole are said to be “one in a…

Space Unusual signals called quasi periodic eruptions appear to come from black holes, but we don't know what creates them. Now astronomers have seen the most powerful one of these signals ever, and have a new idea about their cause By Alex Wilkins Facebook / Meta Twitter / X icon…

In 2018 astronomers at MIT and elsewhere observed previously unseen behavior from a black hole known as 1ES 1927+654, which is about as massive as a million suns and sits in a galaxy 270 million light-years away. Its corona—a cloud of whirling, white-hot plasma—suddenly disappeared before reassembling months later.  Now…

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The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. At the beginning of time and the center of every black hole lies a point of infinite density called a singularity. To explore these enigmas, we take what we know about space, time, gravity, and quantum mechanics and apply it…

A digital representation of neurons in a section of a mouse's brain, part of a project to create the largest map to date of brain wiring and function, in Seattle, Wash. Credit: Forrest Collman/Allen Institute This week, researchers reported a brain circuit linked to the intensity of political behavior. Microbiologists…

Black holes — the supermassive gravitation forces at the center of most galaxies — actually spend much of their time dormant, or essentially asleep. Astronomers have now spotted one not only waking up but appearing to hit the celestial equivalent of a snooze button every few days. The black hole…

This artist’s impression illustrates the mechanism that could be at the origin of the powerful bursts of X-ray light seen from a newly awakened black hole named Ansky. Credit: ESA Get the Popular Science daily newsletter???? Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. A black hole is a terrifying…

Although we know that supermassive black holes (millions of times the mass of our Sun) lurk at the centre of most galaxies, their very nature makes them difficult to spot and study. In contrast to the popular idea of black holes constantly 'gobbling up' matter, these gravitational monsters can spend…

Supermassive black holes are challenging to observe because they can stay dormant for long periods. This was the case for the black hole in galaxy SDSS1335+0728, 300 million light-years away in Virgo. After decades of inactivity, it suddenly became active, emitting powerful X-ray bursts. The galaxy SDSS1335+0728, which had remained…