merging black holes – Astronomy Now

New technique touted for spotting elusive black hole mergers

18 November 2019 Astronomy Now

Black holes merging in the accretion disc of a supermassive black hole like the one at the core of the Milky Way might generate a visible signature, astronomers say.

Merging galaxies have enshrouded black holes

10 May 2017 Astronomy Now

Black holes get a bad rap in popular culture for swallowing everything in their environments. In reality, stars, gas and dust can orbit black holes for long periods of time, until a major disruption pushes the material in.

Gamma-ray space telescope poised to pin down gravitational wave sources

19 April 2016 Astronomy Now

On 14 September 2015, gravitational waves produced by a pair of merging black holes gently rattled space-time in the vicinity of Earth. Less than half a second later, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope picked up a brief, weak burst of high-energy light consistent with the same part of the sky. Analysis of this burst suggests that the events are connected.