SA Special Editions

A momentous signal from space has confirmed decades of theorizing on black holes—and launched a new era of gravitational-wave astronomy

Firewalls” of particles may border black holes, confounding both general relativity and quantum mechanics

Astronomers are puzzled about how the oldest supermassive black holes could have grown so big so early in cosmic history

The weird quantum phenomenon of entanglement could produce shortcuts between distant black holes

Swirling around our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, these objects share properties with both stars and gas clouds

The collaborative project “It from Qubit” is investigating whether space and time sprang from the quantum entanglement of tiny bits of information

After more than a decade of effort, a global network of radio telescopes revealed the first-ever picture of an enigmatic hole in spacetime

New techniques reveal how supermassive black holes shred entire stars

A hidden population of black holes born less than one second after the big bang could solve the mystery of dark matter

Einstein’s thought experiments left a long and somewhat mixed legacy of their own

To save quantum mechanics, information must break free from black holes. New observations may help tell us how

Astronomers have revealed never before seen features of our galaxy’s mysterious supermassive black hole

In a controversial finding, astronomers claim they have glimpsed light from merging black holes

Existing in the “mass gap” dividing two classes of stellar remnants, this strange object could be the most massive neutron star, the lightest-known black hole—or something else entirely

The unexpected finding gives astronomers their first good look at previously missing “intermediate”-size black holes

Over the past century, the existence of these invisible cosmic bodies has become unmistakable

Anticipated but never before seen, the existence of tens of thousands of these dark objects at the galactic center could have far-reaching implications for astrophysics

After a clutch of historic detections, gravitational-wave researchers have set their sights on some ambitious scientific quarry

Gravitational-wave astronomers are probing the origins of abnormally massive black holes—and with them, the inner workings of their colossal galactic homes