Black Hole

February 19, 2025 4:22 PM

Webb Telescope provides unprecedented view of our Milky Way’s supermassive black hole

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is providing the best look yet at the chaotic events unfolding around the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, observing a steady flickering of light punctuated by occasional bright flares as material is drawn inward by its enormous gravitational pull. Webb, which was launched in 2021 and began collecting data in 2022, is enabling astronomers to observe the region around the black hole - called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* - for extended ...

October 30, 2024 11:17 AM

Astronomers observe black hole that may have formed gently

The conventional wisdom among astronomers is that black holes - those exceptionally dense objects with gravity so powerful that not even light can escape - form in the violent explosion, called a supernova, of a massive dying star. But some, it turns out, may be born in a gentler fashion. Researchers have identified a black hole that appears to have come into being through the collapse of the core of a large star in its death throes, but without the usual blast. It was observed gravitationally ...

June 18, 2024 11:25 PM

Scientists witness a dormant supermassive black hole roar to life

At the center of the Milky Way galaxy resides a supermassive black hole four million times the mass of our sun called Sagittarius A* that some scientists have called a gentle giant because of its quiescence. But someday it could become a beast. Researchers said on Tuesday they have observed in real time a dramatic brightening at the heart of another galaxy apparently caused by a supermassive black hole awakening from dormancy and beginning to gorge itself with nearby material. It marks the firs...