Tag Archive for 'Supermassive black hole'

This 3D spectro-imaging data cube was produced using software called OsrsVol, short for OSIRIS-Volume Display; Ciurlo et al developed this custom volume rendering tool to separate G3, G4, and G5 from the background emission; once the 3D analysis was performed, the astronomers could clearly distinguish the G-objects, which allowed them to follow their movement and see how they behave around the supermassive black hole. Image credit: Ciurlo et al.

Strange Star-Like Objects Spotted near Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Jun 13, 2018 by News Staff

Three new dusty stellar objects — so-called ‘G-type’ objects — have been spotted at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. This 3D spectro-imaging...

This celestial firestorm is the blazing wreckage of a collision between two spiral galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, which are located about 62 million light-years from Earth. The two galaxies, whose bright yellow cores appear to the lower left and upper right of center, began their fateful confrontation a few hundred million years ago. The pair is nicknamed the Antennae Galaxies because of two long streamers of stars, gas, and dust that extend from the crash site. Wide-field images reveal the elongated ‘antennae’ formed during the initial impact, but this Hubble image concentrates on the heart of the galactic collision. Image credit: NASA / ESA / B. Whitmore, STScI.

Violent Galaxy Collisions Better at Activating Black Holes than Peaceful Mergers, Say Astronomers

Jun 8, 2018 by News Staff

When two galaxies collide, their central supermassive black holes also smash together. But before they do, these galaxies often flicker on, absorbing huge...

This image from the VISTA Hemispheric Survey shows the ultra-luminous quasar SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 (center). Image credit: Wolf et al.

Scientists Find ‘Fastest-Growing’ Supermassive Black Hole Known in Universe

May 16, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A supermassive black hole in the center of the ultra-luminous quasar SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 (J2157-3602 for short) devours a mass equivalent to our Sun...

Artist’s impression of a massive black hole. Image credit: Alain Riazuelo / CC BY-SA 2.5.

Milky Way Galaxy May Have Several ‘Wandering’ Supermassive Black Holes

Apr 25, 2018 by News Staff

In a new study, a team of astronomers from Yale Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics, the University of Washington, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris,...

NGC 6240. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI-ESA.

Binary Supermassive Black Hole Stops Star Formation in NGC 6240

Apr 19, 2018 by News Staff

NGC 6240 is a pair of merging galaxies approximately 400 million light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. It spans 300,000 light-years and has...

10,000 Stellar-Mass Black Holes Exist in Milky Way’s Central Region, Astronomers Say

Apr 5, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have discovered what they believe are 12 stellar-mass black holes gathered around Sagittarius A*,...

Astronomers Detect Radio Signals from Star-Eating Black Hole

Mar 20, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have detected radio echoes of a supermassive black hole feeding on a star, suggesting the black hole emits a jet of energy proportional to...

A new high-resolution map of the magnetic field lines in gas and dust swirling around Milky Way’s central black. Image credit: Roche et al, doi: 10.1093/mnras/sty129.

Clearest Infrared Image of Milky Way’s Central Region Unveiled

Feb 28, 2018 by News Staff

Using data from the CanariCam infrared camera on the Gran Telescopio Canarias, astronomers have created a high resolution map of the magnetic field lines...

Artist’s impression of the dusty gaseous torus around an active supermassive black hole. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO.

ALMA Spots Rotating Dusty Gaseous Torus around Messier 77’s Central Black Hole

Feb 15, 2018 by News Staff

High resolution observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have revealed the presence of a rotating dusty gaseous torus...

This illustration shows a glowing stream of material from a star, disrupted as it was being devoured by a supermassive black hole. When a star passes within a certain distance of a black hole -- close enough to be swallowed up -- the stellar material gets stretched and compressed as it is pulled in. A black hole’s destruction of a star, called ‘stellar tidal disruption,’ releases an enormous amount of energy, brightening the surroundings in an event called a flare. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Post-Merger Galaxies’ Supermassive Black Holes Can ‘Eat’ One Star per Year

Feb 2, 2018 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by University of Colorado Boulder scientists has discovered a mechanism that explains the persistence of asymmetrical star clusters...

This image shows the SDSS J1354+1327 galaxy in a composite image with data from Chandra (purple), and Hubble (red, green and blue). The inset box contains a close-up view of the central region around SDSS J1354+1327’s supermassive black hole. The larger companion galaxy, SDSS J1354+1328, is shown to the north. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Colorado / STScI/ J. Comerford et al.

Astronomers Spot ‘Flickering’ Supermassive Black Hole

Jan 15, 2018 by News Staff

A rapidly growing supermassive black hole — known as an active galactic nucleus — in the center of a distant galaxy appears to have consumed...

Supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies blast radiation and ultra-fast winds outward, as illustrated in this artist’s conception. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Central Black Holes Control Star Formation in Massive Galaxies: Study

Jan 2, 2018 by News Staff

Supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times that of the Sun, reside at the centers of all massive galaxies. A new study published in...

This image shows the galaxy 3C 298, located approximately 9.3 billion light-years away. The green colors highlight the energetic gas across the galaxy that is being illuminated by the quasar. The blue color represents powerful winds blowing throughout the galaxy. The red-orange colors represent the cold molecular gas in the system. The supermassive black hole sits at the center of the bright red-orange circular area slightly below the middle of the image. Image credit: Vayner et al.

Supermassive Black Holes Shed Light on Galaxy Formation

Dec 29, 2017 by News Staff

New findings from a team of astronomers at the University of California, San Diego, and elsewhere increase understanding of how powerful winds generated...

Artist’s conception of the most-distant supermassive black hole ever discovered, which is part of ULAS J134208.10+092838.61, a quasar from just 690 million years after the Big Bang. It is surrounded by neutral hydrogen, indicating that it is from the period called the Epoch of Reionization, when the Universe’s first light sources turned on. Image credit: Robin Dienel / Carnegie Institution for Science.

Astronomers Discover Most Distant Known Supermassive Black Hole

Dec 7, 2017 by News Staff

An international group of astronomers has discovered and measured the distance to the most distant supermassive black hole ever found. Artist’s conception...

X-ray source LGGS J004527.30+413254.3. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Washington / T. Dorn-Wallenstein et al / ESA / J. Dalcanton et al / R. Gendler.

Double Supermassive Black Hole ‘Photobombs’ Andromeda Galaxy

Dec 5, 2017 by News Staff

Using X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical data from ground-based telescopes, astronomers have spotted what could be the most...

An ALMA image of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy showing the location of 11 young protostars within about 3 light-years of Sagittarius A*. The lines indicate the direction of the bipolar lobes created by high-velocity jets from the protostars. The illustrated star in the middle of the image indicates the location of Sagittarius A*. Image credit: ALMA / Yusef-Zadeh et al / B. Saxton / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

ALMA Spots Eleven Protostars near Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Nov 30, 2017 by News Staff

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has revealed the telltale signs of 11 low-mass stars forming close – within just 3 light-years...

This illustration shows a stream of material from a star as it is being devoured by a supermassive black hole in a tidal disruption flare. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

New Type of Highly Energetic Cosmic Explosion Discovered

Nov 16, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have spotted a new type of extremely energetic cosmic explosion they think originates from a very massive star or the environment of a supermassive...

An artistic illustration of a binary black hole. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI.

Astronomers Discover Five New Double Supermassive Black Holes

Oct 4, 2017 by News Staff

Five new pairs of merging supermassive black holes have been discovered by combining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Wide-Field Infrared...

Double Supermassive Black Hole is Most Compact Ever Found

Sep 19, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered what may be the most compact binary supermassive black hole ever known in a galaxy about 400 million light years from Earth. An...

This image of the ‘jellyfish’ galaxy JO204 shows clearly how material is streaming out of the galaxy in long tendrils to the lower-left; red shows the glow from ionized hydrogen gas and the whiter regions are where most of the stars in the galaxy are located; some more distant galaxies are also visible. Image credit: ESO / GASP Collaboration.

MUSE Observations of ‘Jellyfish’ Galaxies Reveal New Way to Fuel Supermassive Black Holes

Aug 17, 2017 by News Staff

An international research team, led by Dr. Bianca Poggianti of the INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Padova, has used the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very...

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