http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/black_holes/ Black Holes in Space. Read science articles on colliding supermassive black holes, simulated gravitational waves of a black hole, black hole theory and more. Astronomy images. en-us Fri, 09 May 2008 21:05:01 EDT Fri, 09 May 2008 21:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/black_holes/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501091356.htm A new space mission, due to launch this month, is going to shed light on some of the most extreme astrophysical processes in nature -- including pulsars, remnants of supernovae, and supermassive black holes. It could even help us comprehend the origin and distribution of dark matter. Sun, 04 May 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080501091356.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502112754.htm Astrophysicists now say the fate of stars that venture too close to massive black holes could be even more violent than previously believed. Not only are they crushed by the black hole's huge gravity, but the process can also trigger a nuclear explosion that tears the star apart from within. In addition, shock waves in the pancake star carry a brief and very high peak of temperature outwards, that could give rise to a new type of X-ray or gamma-ray bursts. Fri, 02 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080502112754.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423131621.htm At the cores of many galaxies, supermassive black holes expel powerful jets of particles at nearly the speed of light. Just how they perform this feat has long been one of the mysteries of astrophysics. Now, astronomers have watched material winding a corkscrew outward path and behaving exactly as predicted by a leading theory. Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423131621.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415111724.htm Astronomers have discovered that our galaxy's central black hole let loose a powerful flare three centuries ago. The finding helps resolve a long-standing mystery: why is the Milky Way's black hole so quiescent? The black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced "A-star"), is a certified monster, containing about 4 million times the mass of our Sun. Yet the energy radiated from its surroundings is billions of times weaker than the radiation emitted from central black holes in other galaxies. Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415111724.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408132137.htm The same team of astrophysicists that cracked the computer code simulating two black holes crashing and merging together has now, for the first time, caused a three-black-hole collision. Scientists have simulated triplet black holes to test their breakthrough method that, in 2005, merged two of these large mass objects on a supercomputer following Einstein's theory of general relativity. Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408132137.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404200325.htm An ambitious study of active and inactive galaxies has given new insights into the complex interaction between super-massive black holes at the heart of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and star formation in the surrounding galaxy. Astronomers studied the properties of light from 360,000 galaxies in the local Universe to understand the relationship between accreting black holes, the birth of stars in galaxy centres and the evolution of the galaxies as a whole. Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080404200325.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080407091757.htm XMM-Newton has been surprised by a rare type of galaxy, from which it has detected a higher number of X-rays than thought possible. The observation gives new insight into the powerful processes shaping galaxies during their formation and evolution. Scientists working with XMM-Newton were looking into the furthest reaches of the universe, at celestial objects called quasars. These are vast cosmic engines that pump energy into their surroundings. It is thought an enormous black hole drives each quasar. Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080407091757.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402093419.htm Omega Centauri has been known as an unusual globular cluster for a long time. It turns out that the explanation behind Omega Centauri's peculiarities may be an elusive intermediate-mass black hole hidden in its center. Intermediate-mass black holes could turn out to be "baby" supermassive black holes. Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080402093419.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401141549.htm Using a new technique, NASA scientists have identified the lightest known black hole. With a mass only about 3.8 times greater than our Sun and a diameter of only 15 miles, the black hole lies very close to the minimum size predicted for black holes that originate from dying stars. Despite the diminutive size of this new record holder, future space travelers had better beware. Smaller black holes like the one in J1650 exert stronger tidal forces than the much larger black holes found in the centers of galaxies, which make the little guys more dangerous to approach. "If you ventured too close to J1650's black hole, its gravity would tidally stretch your body into a strand of spaghetti," says one of the astronomers. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401141549.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326223837.htm The date March 19, 2008 marked the brightest ever cosmic explosion observed from the Earth. The outburst known as GRB 080319B was probably the death of a massive star leading to the creation of a black hole. For the first time the birth of a black hole has been filmed. Cameras of the "Pi of the Sky" project recorded this remarkable event. In almost 20 seconds the object became so bright that it could be visible with the naked eye. Then it began fading, and in 4 minutes it became 100 times fainter. Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326223837.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080310151949.htm Researchers are exploring the possibility of an extra dimension -- an imperceptibly small dimension, about one billionth of a nanometer. Researchers say: "This extra dimension would be curled up, in a state similar to that of the entire universe at the time of the Big Bang." Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080310151949.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080208131143.htm Scientists hope that a new supercomputer may help them identify the sound of a celestial black hole. Gravitational waves are produced by violent events in the distant universe, such as the collision of black holes or explosions of supernovas. The waves radiate across the universe at the speed of light. While Albert Einstein predicted the existence of these waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity, it has taken decades to develop the technology to detect them. Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080208131143.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080129125350.htm A strange and violent fate awaits a white dwarf star that wanders too close to a moderately massive black hole. According to a new study, the black hole's gravitational pull on the white dwarf would cause tidal forces sufficient to disrupt the stellar remnant and reignite nuclear burning in it, giving rise to a supernova explosion with an unusual appearance. Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080129125350.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080128113256.htm A young star is speeding away from the Milky Way so fast that astronomers have been puzzled by where it came from; based on its young age it has traveled too far to have come from our galaxy. The researchers have determined that it came from our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The result suggests that it was ejected from that galaxy by a yet-to-be-observed massive black hole. Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080128113256.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114162455.htm Neutron stars can be considerably more massive than previously believed, and it is more difficult to form black holes, according to new research. In the cosmic continuum of dead, remnant stars, the astronomers have increased the mass limit for when neutron stars turn into black holes. Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114162455.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114083851.htm NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected plump black holes where least expected -- skinny galaxies. Like people, galaxies come in different shapes and sizes. There are thin spirals both with and without central bulges of stars, and more rotund ellipticals that are themselves like giant bulges. Scientists have long held that all galaxies except the slender, bulgeless spirals harbor supermassive black holes at their cores. Furthermore, bulges were thought to be required for black holes to grow. Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114083851.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080112160830.htm The shape of the mysterious cloud of antimatter in the central regions of the Milky Way has been revealed by ESA's orbiting gamma-ray observatory Integral. The unexpectedly lopsided shape is a new clue to the origin of the antimatter. The observations have significantly decreased the chances that the antimatter is coming from the annihilation or decay of astronomical dark matter. Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080112160830.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080110190846.htm It's well known that black holes can slow time to a crawl and tidally stretch large objects into spaghetti-like strands. But according to new theoretical research from two NASA astrophysicists, the wrenching gravity just outside the outer boundary of a black hole can produce yet another bizarre effect: light echoes. Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080110190846.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080110150936.htm A new study using results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provides one of the best pieces of evidence yet that many supermassive black holes are spinning extremely rapidly. The whirling of these giant black holes drives powerful jets that pump huge amounts of energy into their environment and affects galaxy growth. Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080110150936.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109173824.htm Astronomers studying a nearby galaxy have spied a rare type of star system -- one that contains a black hole that suddenly began glowing brightly with X-rays. Though this type of star system is supposed to be rare, it's the second such system discovered in that galaxy, called Centaurus A. The discovery suggests that astronomers have more to learn about the lives and deaths of massive stars in galaxies such as our own. Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109173824.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109173835.htm If the latest simulation of what happens when black holes merge is correct, there could be hundreds of rogue black holes, each weighing several thousand times the mass of the sun, roaming around the Milky Way galaxy. Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109173835.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109173722.htm Astronomers may have solved one of the most vexing mysteries in our Milky Way: the origin of a giant cloud of antimatter surrounding the galactic center. Integral found that the cloud extends farther on the western side of the galactic center than it does on the eastern side. This imbalance matches the distribution of a population of binary star systems that contain black holes or neutron stars, strongly suggesting that these binaries are churning out at least half of the antimatter, and perhaps all of it. Thu, 10 Jan 2008 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109173722.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080108133341.htm Astronomers have detected a mysterious type of cosmic explosion farther back in time than ever before. The explosion, known as a short gamma-ray burst, took place 7.4 billion years ago, more than halfway back to the Big Bang. Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080108133341.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080104095250.htm Physicists have concluded that last February's intense burst of gamma rays possibly coming from the Andromeda Galaxy lacked a gravitational wave. That absence, they say, rules out an initial interpretation that the burst came from merging neutron stars or black holes within Andromeda. Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080104095250.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071218123744.htm Astronomers have discovered a cosmic explosion that seems to have come from the middle of nowhere -- thousands of light-years from the nearest galaxy-sized collection of stars, gas, and dust. This "shot in the dark" is surprising because the type of explosion, a long-duration gamma-ray burst, is thought to be powered by the death of a massive star. Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071218123744.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071218103611.htm A jet from a black hole at the center of a galaxy strikes the edge of another galaxy. This is the first time such an interaction has been found. The jet impacts the companion galaxy at its edge and is then disrupted and deflected, much like how a stream of water from a hose will splay out after hitting a wall at an angle. Each wavelength shows a different aspect of this system, known as 3C321. The Chandra X-ray image provides evidence that each galaxy contains a rapidly growing supermassive black hole at its center. Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071218103611.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071031152914.htm Supermassive black holes can produce powerful winds that shape a galaxy and determine their own growth, confirms a group of scientists. The scientists for the first time, observed the vertical launch of rotating winds from glowing disks of gas, known as accretion disks, surrounding supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071031152914.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030112102.htm Astronomers have discovered the heftiest known black hole to orbit a star. The new black hole, with a mass 24 to 33 times that of our Sun, is more massive than scientists expected for a black hole that formed from a dying star. Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030112102.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025143300.htm New images reveal the wild side of an elliptical galaxy nearly two billion light-years away, that previously had been considered mild-mannered. Hubble photos show shells of stars around a bright quasar, known as MC2 1635+119, which dominates the center of the galaxy. The presence of the shells is an indication of a titanic clash with another galaxy in the relatively recent past. Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025143300.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025150029.htm Astronomers have unmasked hundreds of black holes hiding deep inside dusty galaxies billions of light-years away. The massive, growing black holes, discovered by NASA's Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes, represent a large fraction of a long-sought missing population. Their discovery implies there were hundreds of millions of additional black holes growing in our young universe, more than doubling the total amount known at that distance. Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025150029.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071017131932.htm With eyes that peer into the most energetic phenomena in the universe, ESA's Integral has been setting records, discovering the unexpected and helping understanding the unknown over its first five years. Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071017131932.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071017145225.htm Astronomers have located the most massive stellar black hole ever found. The black hole is part of a binary system in M33, a nearby galaxy about 3 million light years from Earth. This new finding offers intriguing implications for the evolution and ultimate fate of massive stars. Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071017145225.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070928101200.htm In a shock finding, astronomers have detected a huge burst of radio energy from the distant universe that could open up a new field in astrophysics. One of the astronomers noted that the burst may have been produced by an exotic event such as the collision of two neutron stars. Fri, 28 Sep 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070928101200.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070925092520.htm Stars in galaxies are a bit similar to people: during the first phase of their existence they grow rapidly, after which a stellar birth control occurs in most galaxies. Thanks to new observations it is now known that a part of the heavy galaxies already stopped forming stars when the universe was still a toddler, about three billion years old. Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070925092520.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070924151118.htm Researchers think there is a way to determine whether some black holes are not actually black. Astronomers cannot say for sure whether all black holes are actually black, having never fully penetrated the obscuring outward matter surrounding such objects, but now they propose a way to find out. Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070924151118.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070827112825.htm Using European and Japanese/NASA X-ray satellites, astronomers have seen Einstein's predicted distortion of space-time around three neutron stars, and in doing so they have pioneered a groundbreaking technique for determining the properties of these ultradense objects. Neutron stars contain the most dense observable matter in the universe. They cram more than a sun's worth of material into a city-sized sphere, meaning a few cups of neutron-star stuff would outweigh Mount Everest. Astronomers use these collapsed stars as natural laboratories to study how tightly matter can be crammed under the most extreme pressures that nature can offer. Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070827112825.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070730123803.htm Astronomers have discovered a new class of active galactic nuclei. By using Swift and Suzaku, the team has found that a relatively common class of AGN has escaped detection...until now. These objects are so heavily shrouded in gas and dust that virtually no light gets out. Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070730123803.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070724130616.htm Supermassive black holes have been discovered to grow more rapidly in young galaxy clusters, according to new results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. These "fast-track" supermassive black holes can have a big influence on the galaxies and clusters that they live in. Wed, 25 Jul 2007 05:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070724130616.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070705131811.htm NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center will house the agency's new Einstein Probes Office, created to study the universe's exotic phenomena: dark energy, black holes and cosmic microwave background radiation. Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070705131811.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627112659.htm NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed an X-ray jet blasting away from a neutron star in a binary system. This discovery may help astronomers understand how neutron stars as well as black holes can generate powerful beams of relativistic particles. Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627112659.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627101432.htm NASA has created a new office to study in more detail some of the universe's most exotic phenomena: dark energy, black holes and cosmic microwave background radiation. The new Einstein Probes Office will facilitate NASA's future medium-class science missions to investigate these profound cosmic mysteries. Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627101432.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070620115358.htm "Nothing there," is what Case Western Reserve University physicists concluded about black holes after spending a year working on complex formulas to calculate the formation of new black holes. In nearly 13 printed pages with a host of calculations, the research may solve the information loss paradox that has perplexed physicists for the past 40 years. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070620115358.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070614163012.htm Picture the Milky Way galaxy--a disk of stars and gas, a stellar spheroid and an enormous halo of dark matter. It spirals around a black hole that is supermassive--about 3 million solar masses. The Milky Way's total mass is about 100 billion solar masses--enormous to us but average among galaxies. Then imagine that galaxy encountering its identical twin. The first galaxy merges with the second to produce a galaxy that's even grander and greater. Cosmologists think that's how galaxies grow--through a complex process of continuous mergers. Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070614163012.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070613143238.htm A team of astronomers from Canada, France and the United States is announcing the discovery of a record-breaking black hole located nearly 13 billion light years from the Earth. Details of the discovery, made with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, are being presented today by Dr Chris Willott, of the University of Ottawa, to astronomers and astrophysicists during the annual conference of the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA 2007) in Kingston, Ontario. Future observations of this black hole will shed light on the early evolution of the Universe. Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070613143238.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070608094824.htm Now, using supercomputers to simulate galaxy mergers, scientists at Stanford and elsewhere have seen the formation of a new type of structure-a central disk of gas that can be from a hundred to a few thousand light years wide and from a few hundred million to a billion solar masses. They report the first simulated formation of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) pair in the June 7 edition of Science Express, an online version of Science magazine. Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070608094824.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070604221335.htm Actively growing supermassive black holes in centers of galaxies are common even in cosmic voids, the most rarefied and empty regions of the universe. In a study of more than 1,000 void galaxies, using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-II), astronomers from Drexel and Widener Universities announced that the growth of these monster black holes -- with masses millions to hundreds of millions times that of our sun -- are found where galaxies are sparse and interact very little with each other. The researchers also found that the accretion of matter onto these void black holes is slower than in denser galactic environments. Tue, 05 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070604221335.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070530155811.htm Evidence for an awesome upheaval in a massive galaxy cluster was discovered in an image made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The origin of a bright arc of ferociously hot gas extending over two million light years requires one of the most energetic events ever detected. Thu, 31 May 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070530155811.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070529155041.htm Two merging black holes can generate gravitational waves so powerful that the merged hole shoots out of its host galaxy at a speed of up to 2,500 miles per second, according to a new simulation. Wed, 30 May 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070529155041.htm