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Supermassive Black Holes

An artistic representation of what a giant cosmic jet the size of the distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda could look like (image for illustrative purposes only).

Cosmic Monsters in Plain Sight: Massive Radio Galaxies May Be More Common Than We Thought

The hidden centre of galaxy NGC 1052 (artist’s impression). In this artist’s impression we are nearing the supermassive black hole at the centre of galaxy NGC 1052. Here, material collects in a spinning disk before falling into the black hole, and magnetic fields build up which may help launch the galaxy’s powerful jets. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | 3dVision | Johan Bournonville | Anne-Kathrin Baczko

Scientists Close In on How Black Holes Launch Powerful Cosmic Jets

AI-generated representation of an accreting supermassive black hole, surrounded by gas spiraling toward it along the equatorial plane.

Study Reveals How Early Universe’s Giant Black Holes Grew So Quickly

An artist's rendering of what's called an active galactic nucleus at the center of NGC 4151. The galaxy's black hole sits at the center, immediately surrounded by an accretion disk shown in blue.

First data from XRISM space mission provides new perspective on supermassive black holes

Simulation of the light emitted by a supermassive black hole binary system where the surrounding gas is optically thin (transparent). Viewed from 0 degrees inclination, or directly above the plane of the disk. The emitted light represents all wavelengths.

Astrophysicists uncover supermassive black hole/dark matter connection in solving the ‘final parsec problem’

This illustration depicts two quasars in the process of merging. Using both the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, which is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the Subaru Telescope, a team of astronomers have discovered a pair of merging quasars seen only 900 million years after the Big Bang. Not only is this the most distant pair of merging quasars ever found, but also the first confirmed pair found in the period of the Universe known as Cosmic Dawn.

Astronomers Discover Earliest Known Pair of Merging Quasars, Shedding Light on Cosmic Dawn

This image, taken by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), shows two supermassive black holes, which appear as the blobs with red strips. The black holes are in the center of an elliptical galaxy. Colors represent different spectral slopes in radio emission, with red showing the most dense regions surrounding the black holes. The black hole on the right has likely recently devoured a massive star, which caused it to shoot out two ultrafast jets. The ends of those jets appear as green blobs above and below the black hole. This object, called J0405+3803, is referred to as a Compact Symmetric Object (CSO), because its jets are relatively close-in (or compact), compared to other black holes with much larger jets.

Sleeping supermassive black holes awakened briefly by shredded stars

Galactic collision course triggers black hole bursts

Galactic collision course triggers black hole bursts

The mysterious black behemoths controlling our galaxies

This artist’s conception shows a late-stage galaxy merger and its two newly-discovered central black holes. The binary black holes are the closest together ever observed in multiple wavelengths.

Doomed pair of supermassive black holes the closest to collision ever seen

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