Supermassive black hole

Astronomers have captured the biggest cosmic explosion ever detected. About 100 times bigger than the solar system and two trillion times brighter than the Sun at its peak, the mysterious miasma has remained visible for three years.

Astronomers have detected a supermassive black hole ripping a passing star to shreds. Not only was this closer to Earth than ever seen before, but its location and light emissions were unusual, hinting at a large unseen population of these events.

In 2019 we got the first-ever direct image of a black hole, which resembled a fuzzy, orange donut. Now the team has refined the iconic image with the help of machine learning to produce the highest resolution image possible with the original data.

Astronomers have spotted a bizarre sight unlike anything ever seen before. A supermassive black hole has been ejected from its host galaxy, leaving a streak of light about twice as wide as the Milky Way in its wake as the shockwaves create new stars.

NASA has confirmed that our solar system was struck by a gamma-ray burst originating 1.9 billion light-years away that was brighter than any since the beginning of human civilization in a "1 in 10,000 year" event that blinded space satellite sensors.

Some 19 years on from an initial hint, the same UK astronomers have discovered one of the biggest black holes known to date. They also believe the technology on hand for their findings will help shed new light on one of space's biggest mysteries.

Astronomers have been tracking a mysterious object near the center of the galaxy for decades, and now a new study has shed light on its identity – and its fate in the coming years, when it will be slurped up by the supermassive black hole there.

A groundbreaking new study could answer a perplexing astrophysics mystery without complicating our current models. Physicists suggest that black holes could contain a strange form of energy that’s accelerating the expansion of the universe.

Astronomers have spotted an incredibly bright flash of light beaming halfway across the universe. The strange light was estimated to throw off more light than one quadrillion Suns, and in an ironic twist came from one of the darkest objects possible.

Astronomers from the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration have today revealed the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, produced using a network of radio telescopes around the world.

Contrary to their name, black holes are known to fire off flares from time to time, but exactly how this happens is shrouded in mystery. High-resolution simulations have now revealed how twisting magnetic fields can throw off huge amounts of energy.

Astronomers have discovered the closest known pair of supermassive black holes – and that record has two meanings. Not only are they the closest pair to Earth, but they’re the closest to each other as well, heading for an eventual monster merger.