Black Hole

Sky map showing 25,000 supermassive black holes. Each white dot is a supermassive black hole in its own galaxy. LOFAR/LOL SurveyIt might look like a map of stars, but that’s not what is shown in the image above. Instead, each dot on this map of the night sky represents an…

Astronomers might need to adjust their expectations for black holes. According to the New York Times, an international research team has determined that Cygnus X-1, one of the first discovered black holes, is considerably more massive than once thought. The binary-system based hole was originally pegged at 'just' 15 solar…

By combining 256 hours of observations of the northern sky, astronomers have created a map showing 25,000 supermassive black holes. This is the most detailed celestial map in the field of so-called low radio frequencies. The map covers 4 percent of the northern half of the sky. To create this…

A black hole in the Cygnus X-1 binary system is so massive that it challenges current stellar evolution models. An artist’s impression of the Cygnus X-1 binary system. Image credit: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. Discovered in 1964, Cygnus X-1 is an X-ray binary system located in the constellation…

An illustration of how astronomers observed the Cygnus X-1 system from different angles, using the EarthÕs orbit around the sun to measure the perceived movement of the system against the background stars. (International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research via The New York Times) NEW YORK: One of the biggest and…

Einstein first predicted the existence of black holes when he published his theory of general relativity in 1916, describing how gravity shapes the fabric of spacetime. But astronomers didn’t spot one until 1964, some 6,070 light-years away in the Cygnus constellation. Geiger counters launched into space detected cosmic x-rays coming…

New observations of the first black hole ever detected have led astronomers to question what they know about the Universe's most mysterious objects. Published today in the journal Science, the research shows the system known as Cygnus X-1 contains the most massive stellar-mass black hole ever detected without the use…

New observations of the first black hole ever detected have led astronomers to question what they know about the Universe’s most mysterious objects. Published today (February 18, 2021) in the journal Science, the research shows the system known as Cygnus X-1 contains the most massive stellar-mass black hole ever detected…

The dozens of black hole collisions observed by the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors are changing our view of the universe. Sakkmesterke/Science Source When the first black hole collision was detected in 2015, it was a watershed moment in the history of astronomy. With gravitational waves, astronomers were observing…

Identical twins have nothing on black holes. Twins may grow from the same genetic blueprints, but they can differ in a thousand ways—from temperament to hairstyle. Black holes, according to Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity, can have just three characteristics—mass, spin and charge. If those values are the same for…