black

The ‘Black Knight’ satellite: A hodgepodge of alien conspiracy theories

by

Sometimes the introduction of a news report will stop you in your tracks, forcing you to reread in fear you didn’t quite grasp its point the first time. That was certainly the case when Mail Online published a story on Mar. 21, 2017: “An alien satellite set up more than 12,000 years ago to spy … Read more

Black holes may have existed since the beginning of time (and could explain dark matter mystery)

by

The nature and origin of black holes and their role in the evolution of the universe still puzzles scientists. Now, a new study suggests that the existence of black holes from the earliest moments of the universe could explain more than one astronomical mystery.  The new study suggests that small primordial black holes filled the … Read more

Black Children, as Well as Other Minority Kids, Fare Worse Than White Children in Common Surgeries

by

A pandemic is a stress test for society, revealing not only hidden cracks in health systems but also broader social failings. A deep fissure further exposed by COVID is the long-standing inequity in the health and medical care of racial and ethnic minorities. The outbreak has shown that Black, brown and Indigenous adults in the … Read more

Exciting New Paper Tests a Dark Matter And Black Hole Prediction Made by Hawking

by

The Universe is too heavy. According to our measurements of the normal matter in the Universe, there’s not nearly enough of it to account for the strength of the gravitational effects we can see.   Whatever is making up the rest of the mass is nothing we can detect directly, and the quest to figure … Read more

The Deepest Images Yet of The Galactic Center Reveal a Beautiful Cosmic Dance

by

In the heart of the Milky Way, stars tread a complex measure. Bound by the gravitational field of the supermassive black hole in the galactic center, Sagittarius A*, a group of stars known as S-stars swoop on wild, years-long orbits. These orbits were recently studied to measure Sgr A*, a result that won the scientists … Read more

We’ve seen our galaxy’s huge black hole more clearly than ever before

by

Astronomers have observed Sagittarius A* – the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy – closer than ever before, and Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity still holds up Space 14 December 2021 By Leah Crane Stars orbiting very close to Sagittarius A* (centre), the supermassive black hole at the heart of the … Read more

We May Finally Know The Cause of ‘The Cow’, a Freakishly Exciting Space Explosion

by

The cause of a mysterious cosmic kaboom – so bright it led to the classification of a new type of space explosion – may have now been revealed. According to an analysis of the 2018 event, nicknamed “the Cow” (AT2018cow), it was likely an unusual kind of core-collapse supernova that led to the formation of … Read more

Mysterious Object That Survived a Close Encounter With a Black Hole Is Unmasked

by

A mysterious cloud that somehow survived a close encounter with a supermassive black hole has now been unmasked. According to a new study of the object, called G2, it’s actually three baby stars, shrouded in a thick cloud of the gas and dust from which they were born. This interpretation offers a very tidy solution … Read more

Supermassive black holes: Two nearby giants are heading for a collision

by

Two supermassive black holes have been discovered just 1600 light years apart, and they are likely to collide in about 250 million years Space 30 November 2021 By Leah Crane The two bright spots in this image are dense groups of stars, each with a supermassive black hole at the centre ESO/Voggel et al. A … Read more

NASA X-ray telescope: New spacecraft will study the science of black holes

by

NASA and the Italian Space Agency are launching the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer space telescope to measure the X-ray light coming from objects including neutron stars and black holes Space 8 December 2021 By Will Gater An artist’s impression of the IXPE mission NASA NASA and the Italian Space Agency are scheduled to launch an … Read more