Black Holes

A new data release more than doubles the number of gravitational-wave candidate events—and reveals unexpected complexities of merging black holes

Despite years of debate and follow-up studies, an odd streak of cosmic light still defies a final explanation. Is it a giant black hole screaming through intergalactic space?

The strange case for prime numbers at the heart of physics

The collision of supermassive black holes shakes the entire cosmos, hard

A “disappearing” star in the Andromeda galaxy is the closest and best candidate for a newborn black hole that astronomers have ever seen

Researchers have found what might be a little red dot transitioning into its final state, where x-rays burst through its gas cocoon. Others argue the object is nothing special

Radio images captured this “cosmic volcano” being reborn at the heart of the galaxy J1007+3540

Puzzling red spots in images from the James Webb Space Telescope are probably young supermassive black holes obscured by dense cocoons of gas

A wobbling jet from a giant, voracious black hole is suppressing star formation in a distant galaxy—and astronomers have never seen anything quite like it before

Black holes and quantum mechanics present a paradox about the preservation of information

A cosmic explosion known as GRB 250702B is by far the longest gamma-ray burst astronomers have ever seen—if it’s even one at all

Huge eruptions from the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole in the distant past may have sterilized much of the inner galaxy