Black Hole

KDdesignphoto/Shutterstock Once every 100,000 years or so, an event will occur in a galaxy that results in a star being instantly destroyed by one of the universe's most powerful forces. What natural phenomena could exist in the heavens around us that would threaten something as massive as a star? Simple…

For the purposes of this article, the following theoretical epochs will be identified, described and applied to Bitcoin adoption, resistance and narratives: classical theory, neo-classical theory, systems theory, human relations theory, power and politics, chaos theory, critical theory, inter-governmental relations and interpretive theory. Bitcoin will be addressed as an asset…

A team of astrophysicists from Italy and the United Kingdom has calculated that in the observable Universe, a sphere of diameter around 90 billion light-years, there are at least 40*1018 stellar-mass black holes. An artist’s impression of a group of stellar-mass black holes. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble…

How many black holes are out there in the Universe? This is one of the most relevant and pressing questions in modern astrophysics and cosmology. The intriguing issue has recently been addressed by the SISSA Ph.D. student Alex Sicilia, supervised by Prof. Andrea Lapi and Dr. Lumen Boco, together with…

Since 2006, astrophysicists have shown through computer simulations that when two black holes merge, the gravitational waves emitted during this interaction carry linear momentum with them. This, in turn, could potentially impart a large recoil, or “kick,” to the product of that merger: a bigger black hole. Until now, this kick…

At the center of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole. This black hole, dubbed Sagittarius A*, is 4.3 million times bigger than the sun. A recent composite image captured with the Hubble Space Telescope suggests that this Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole has been leaking gas or emitting…

Four distant stars orbit a black hole 4.3 million times bigger than the sun. Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva /( Spaceengine); M. Zamani (NSF's NOIRLab) At the center of the Milky Way is a supermassive black hole, 4.3 million times bigger…

Sagittarius A*, the 4.3-million-solar-mass black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, is a strong source of radio, X-rays and gamma rays. It also displays flaring emission in the X-ray band atop a steady, quiescent level, as well as in other wavebands, most prominently in the near-infrared. The…

One of the great mysteries in astronomy is how galaxies form. At issue is why stars gather into “island universes” rather than spreading out evenly through the universe. One clue comes from the observation that most galaxies contain massive black holes at their centers. That has led to the proposal…

Home News Science & Astronomy The dwarf galaxy Mrk 462. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Dartmouth Coll./J. Parker & R. Hickox; Optical/IR: Pan-STARRS)A newly discovered "mini" supermassive black hole could help reveal some of the secrets behind the biggest black holes in the cosmos. Researchers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory recently discovered…