supermassive black holes – Astronomy Now

A multi-instrument view of M61, showcasing its luminous heart and winding arms

11 April 2021 Astronomy Now

Discovered in 1779, M61 serves as a brilliant subject for ground- and space-based telescopes alike, with spiral arms bursting with young stars and a luminous core harboring a supermassive black hole.

Polarised light shows magnetic field around M87’s black hole

24 March 2021 Astronomy Now

The Event Horizon Telescope collaborations provides a fresh look, in polarised light, at M87’s supermassive black hole.

A surprising swarm of black holes found in nearby globular cluster

11 February 2021 Astronomy Now

Astronomers find signs of multiple stellar-mass black holes at the heart of a nearby globular cluster.

The case of the missing supermassive black hole

25 January 2021 Astronomy Now

Despite careful searches with the Hubble and Chandra space telescopes, astronomers have been unable to find a presumed supermassive black hole at the heart of a giant galaxy.

Most distant quasar – and youngest supermassive black hole – identified

13 January 2021 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have discovered the youngest supermassive black hole to date, challenging theories about how such monsters grow.

Nobel Prize in physics honours black hole theory and observation

6 October 2020 Astronomy Now

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics honours Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for the theory and observation of black holes

Black hole’s shadow is wobbling, providing insights into dynamics of accretion disc

23 September 2020 Astronomy Now

The famously imaged shadow of the supermassive black hole at the heart of galaxy M87 is wobbling, opening a new window on the dynamics of its accretion disc.

Most massive black hole yet discovered redefines ‘gargantuan’

1 July 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers find a supermassive black hole 8,000 times more massive than the one at the heart of the Milky Way.

Monster black hole in early universe challenges theorists

25 June 2020 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found a 1.5-billion-solar-mass black hole dating back to within 700 million years of the Big Bang birth of the cosmos.

Event Horizon Telescope reveals inner workings of quasar’s jet

8 April 2020 Astronomy Now

One year after capturing an image of a black hole’s shadow, the Event Horizon Telescope captures best view yet of a quasar’s powerful jets.