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.

Latest Updates

An artist's impression of te star S5-HVS1 being ejected by the Milky Way galaxy's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*.

A Star Ejected from the Milky Way's 'Heart of Darkness' Has Reached a Mind-Blowing Speed

By Chelsea Gohd

As humankind's ancestors were learning to walk upright, a star was launched from the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy at a staggering 3.7 million mph (6 million km/h).

Mark Zuckerberg and LeVar Burton (right) present the $3 million annual Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics to the Event Horizon Telescope team on Nov. 3, 2019, at NASA's Ames Research Center.

'Seeing the Invisible:' Event Horizon Telescope Team Among Breakthrough Prize Honorees

By Mike Wall

It was quite a night.

A simulated image of two black holes colliding.

See What a Black Hole Would Do to Earth with Online 'Collision Calculator'

By Mike Wall

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Earth got gobbled up by a black hole (apart from everybody dying, of course)? Now you can find out, thanks to the online Black Hole Collision Calculator.

An artist's impression of a black hole. In a new study, scientists identify a black hole in a non-interacting binary with a star, a discovery that could support future black hole findings.

Scientists Just Found a 'Needle in the Haystack' Black Hole Once Hidden From View

By Chelsea Gohd

Scientists have discovered a black hole that has been hiding in the dark.

Artist's impression of the actively feeding supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy NGC 1068. The blue material represents the gas rotating toward us, while the red gas is moving in the opposite direction.

How Ancient Black Holes May Have Grown So Quickly in the Early Universe

By Samantha Mathewson

Scientists found streams of gas rotating in opposite directions around a distant, supermassive black hole, offering new clues for how black holes grew so rapidly in the early universe.

Here's How We Could Detect a Wormhole

By Mike Wall

Weird star wiggles could betray the presence of wormholes, if these fabled space-time tunnels do indeed exist, a new study suggests.

The supermassive black hole Gargantua plays a major role in the 2014 sci-fi blockbuster "Interstellar."

Rogue, Starless Planets May Circle Black Holes

By Charles Q. Choi

Thousands of planets may form and orbit around the kind of supermassive black holes found in the cores of most, if not all, galaxies, a new study finds.

NASA shared a series of postcards warning travelers about the dangers of visiting a black hole.

Dream of Visiting a Black Hole? Maybe Don't, Fun NASA Video Suggests

By Samantha Mathewson

If you've ever thought about what it might be like to visit a black hole, NASA has shared a video and a few postcards that may have you reconsidering.

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.

Event Horizon Telescope Snags New Funding to Capture 1st Movie of a Black Hole

By Meghan Bartels

This spring, scientists released the first-ever image of a black hole — but what they really want is to create a movie of a black hole.

An illustration shows what Planet 9 might look like orbiting far from our sun. Now, at least two physicists think this picture is wrong and it's actually a black hole.

Is Our Solar System's Mysterious 'Planet 9' Really a Grapefruit-Size Black Hole?

By Rafi Letzter

Astronomers have long hunted a mysterious planet in the outer reaches of our solar system. These scientists think that it might really be a primordial black hole,

An artist's illustration of a black hole.

Black Holes As We Know Them May Not Exist

By Mara Johnson-Groh

Black holes may not have singularities at their heart, but instead may be stuffed with dark energy.

Optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are shown with X-ray observations gathered by the Chandra Space Telescope, each showing SDSS J084905.51+111447.2, which scientists believe is a triple-black-hole merger.

'Trainwreck' Crash of 3 Monster Black Holes Would Warp Their Host Galaxies

By Meghan Bartels

Take three of the most massive objects in the universe, smoosh them together, and the fireworks are sure to be astounding — and maybe, someday, scientists will see the collision.