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Black Holes

A black hole is a location in space that possesses so much gravity, nothing can escape its pull, even light. Learn more about what black holes are and the latest news.

Related Topics: Dark Matter, The Big Bang Theory, Gravitational Waves, The Theory of Relativity in Space 

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An artist's depiction of two black holes merging within the disk of a supermassive black hole, later releasing a burst of light.

Scientists spot flash of light from colliding black holes. But how?

By Meghan Bartels

It's right there in the name: black holes aren't supposed to produce flashes of light. But scientists think that last year, they spotted black holes doing just that.

An artist's depiction of the heavily asymmetrical collision observed through gravitational waves.

Scientists just found the biggest neutron star (or smallest black hole) yet in a strange cosmic collision

By Meghan Bartels

Astrophysicists have spotted the strangest gravitational-wave signal yet, an observation that could force scientists to rewrite what they know about the cosmos.

Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have caught a stellar-mass black hole hurling hot material into space at close to the speed of light.

Black hole caught spewing jets into space at nearly the speed of light (video)

By Elizabeth Howell

A black hole shooting out gassy material at nearly the speed of light has been caught on video by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

An artist's illustration of the massive explosion that rocked the center of the Milky Way galaxy 3.5 million years ago. Our distant hominid ancestors likely would have seen the resulting flare.

Ancient explosion in Milky Way's core lit up gas outside the galaxy

By Elizabeth Howell

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is further probing the remnants of a massive space explosion visible from Earth 3.5 million years ago.

A new visualization, made with data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other space telescopes, allows users to experience 500 years of cosmic evolution around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Visit the Milky Way's supermassive black hole with 'Galactic Center VR' visualization (video)

By Elizabeth Howell

A new virtual reality experience lets you fly closely, but safely, towards the supermassive black hole embedded in the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

This artist's impression shows the orbits of the objects in the HR 6819 triple system. This system is made up of an inner binary with one star (orbit in blue) and a newly discovered black hole (orbit in red), as well as a third star in a wider orbit (also in blue).

Newfound black hole is the closest one to Earth we've ever found

By Hanneke Weitering

A newfound black hole may be the closest black hole to Earth, and you can spot its cosmic home in the night sky without a telescope.

An artist's depiction of the giant stellar-mass black hole suspected by some researchers to be in the binary system LB1 accreting gas from a nearby blue companion star. In a number of studies, researchers have disproven the probability that the black hole in LB1 is ultramassive.

Scientists keep debunking 'monster black hole' discovery. So, what's the deal with binary system LB1?

By Chelsea Gohd

As scientists continue to weigh in, one thing is clear: the "monster black hole" discovered in 2019 doesn't exist.

This artist's impression shows two massive black holes in the OJ 287 galaxy.

Flashy 'dance' of two monster black holes captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

By Hanneke Weitering

If two black holes tango in space but astronomers cannot see them, can we still admire their flashy dance moves?

An artist's depiction of a star brushing past a black hole.

Black hole keeps snacking on white dwarf locked in its orbit

By Meghan Bartels

This black hole's parents never told it not to play with its food.

An artist's depiction of mismatched black holes colliding.

Scientists detect rare crash of two mismatched black holes for the first time ever

By Meghan Bartels

Colliding black holes aren't always as evenly matched as scientists expected, according to a cosmic chirp astronomers have puzzled over for a year.

The Event Horizon Telescope, a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration, captured this image of the supermassive black hole and its shadow that's in the center of the galaxy M87.

1 year after epic black hole photo, Event Horizon Telescope team is dreaming very big

By Mike Wall

One year after its epic announcement, the Event Horizon Telescope project isn't resting on its laurels.

Light curves around a black hole's event horizon

Live Science podcast 'Life's Little Mysteries' 20: Mysterious black holes

By Live Science Staff

In this episode of Life's Little Mysteries, we'll take a closer look at black holes, the mysterious cosmic objects that have a gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape.

An artist's depiction of a quasar and its surrounding galaxy as seen with optical light.

Astronomers spot quasar with the most powerful winds ever seen

By Meghan Bartels

Scientists took a second look at a strange object and spotted the most powerful winds ever seen gusting off of a special flavor of black hole called a quasar.

Observations made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have revealed for the first time that a star orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way moves just as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. Its orbit is shaped like a rosette and not like an ellipse as predicted by Newton's theory of gravity. This effect, known as Schwarzschild precession, had never before been measured for a star around a supermassive black hole. This artist's impression illustrates the precession of the star's orbit, with the effect exaggerated for easier visualization.

Star's motion around Milky Way's monster black hole proves Einstein right yet again

By Mike Wall

Einstein's theory of general relativity just passed a dramatic black-hole test with flying colors.

The historic first image of a supermassive black hole ever recorded shows the shadow of the monster black hole inside the distant galaxy M87.

1 year ago, the world saw a black hole for the first time. Here's how it got a Hawaiian name.

By Meghan Bartels

A year ago, scientists captured the unphotographable when the Event Horizon Telescope published a fiery orange ring on a black background that became instantly recognizable.

An artist's depiction of a supermassive black hole.

How did supermassive black holes get so big and chonky? Scientists still don't know.

By Paul Sutter

Although simulations suggest that black holes should grow quickly in the early universe, when astronomers look back in time they simply cannot find many such structures.

An artist's depiction of a black hole pulling light back toward its disk.

This weird black hole is bending light back on itself like a boomerang

By Meghan Bartels

For decades, scientists have suspected that some of the light that escapes from around a massive black hole nearly doesn't make it — and now, they've finally seen it happen.

An artist's depiction of a quasar.

Event Horizon Telescope spots weird black-hole jet mystery inside quasar

By Meghan Bartels

At the same time the Event Horizon Telescope was gathering data to create the first-ever image of a black hole, it was also observing an even stranger object.

An artist's impression of an intermediate-mass black hole tearing apart a wayward star that passed too close.

Hubble's best evidence yet for 'missing link' of black holes may solve 14-year-old space mystery

By Elizabeth Howell

Hubble is tracking down a suspected black hole that shredded a wayward star.

An artist's depiction of the quasar MG J0414+0534.

Astronomers spot ancient effects from a supermassive black hole's jets

By Meghan Bartels

Astronomers have gleaned their first insight to what the jets blasting off of supermassive black holes may have done to surrounding gas in the young universe.