Astronomers See a Massive Black Hole Awaken in Real Time
“Imagine you’ve been observing a distant galaxy for years, and it always seemed calm and inactive,” says Paula Sánchez Sáez, an astronomer at ESO in Germany and lead author of the study accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. “Suddenly, its [core] starts showing dramatic changes in brightness, unlike any typical events we’ve seen before.” […]
Most Massive Stellar Black Hole in Our Galaxy Found
Stellar black holes are formed from the collapse of massive stars and the ones previously identified in the Milky Way are on average about 10 times as massive as the Sun. Even the next most massive stellar black hole known in our galaxy, Cygnus X-1, only reaches 21 solar masses, making this new 33-solar-mass observation […]
Strong Spiral Magnetic Fields Discovered at the Edge of the Milky Way’s Central Black Hole
In 2022 scientists unveiled the first image of Sgr A* at press conferences around the world, including at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). While the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, which is roughly 27 000 light-years away from Earth, is more than a thousand times smaller and less massive than M87’s, the first-ever black hole […]
A Black Hole Suddenly Changed Its Direction. It’s Now Pointing At Us
A supermassive black hole mysteriously changed its direction and is now pointing at us. This unprecedented event has left scientists both astounded and intrigued. It’s something that astronomers have never seen in the universe. Even the galaxy housing this supermassive black hole has experienced a reclassification due to the shift in its core’s jet direction. […]
First Direct Image of a Black Hole Expelling a Powerful Jet
Most galaxies harbour a supermassive black hole at their centre. While black holes are known for engulfing matter in their immediate vicinity, they can also launch powerful jets of matter that extend beyond the galaxies that they live in. Understanding how black holes create such enormous jets has been a long standing problem in astronomy. […]