Team finds brand new type of black hole

"Astronomers were making bets if such black holes existed or not, and people believed they could not exist, but we found it."

U. Florida • futurity
Sept. 3, 2020 ~4 min

An unexpected origin story for a lopsided black hole merger

Researchers suggest a novel process to explain the collision of a large black hole and a much smaller one.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
Sept. 2, 2020 ~8 min


A “bang” in LIGO and Virgo detectors signals most massive gravitational-wave source yet

A binary black hole merger likely produced gravitational waves equal to the energy of eight suns.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
Sept. 2, 2020 ~10 min

Gravitational waves: astronomers spot a black hole so massive they weren't sure it could exist

New discovery settles a wager between astrophysicists: black holes can merge repeatedly.

Ilya Mandel, Honorary Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Birmingham • conversation
Sept. 2, 2020 ~7 min

Are we still listening to space?

Despite the planet’s seeming standstill, graduate students continue to use LIGO to identify astrophysical events.

Fernanda Ferreira | School of Science • mit
Aug. 19, 2020 ~7 min

In a first, astronomers watch a black hole’s corona disappear, then reappear

A colliding star may have triggered the drastic transformation.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
July 15, 2020 ~8 min

Quasar upends ideas about black hole formation

A new discovery "presents the biggest challenge yet for the theory of black hole formation and growth in the early universe."

Harrison Tasoff-UC Santa Barbara • futurity
June 29, 2020 ~8 min

Could we extract energy from a black hole? Our experiment verifies old theory

Twisted sound beams suggest an advanced civilisation may be able to harness immense amounts of power from a black hole.

Marion Cromb, PhD Candidate in Physics, University of Glasgow • conversation
June 26, 2020 ~7 min


Mystery object could be heavy star or light black hole

"We don't know if this object is the heaviest known neutron star, or the lightest known black hole, but either way it breaks a record."

Sam Sholtis-Penn State • futurity
June 24, 2020 ~10 min

Astronomers detect regular rhythm of radio waves, with origins unknown

Signal from 500 million light years away is the first periodic pattern of radio bursts detected.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office • mit
June 17, 2020 ~7 min

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