Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics.
Dark matter may be made of pieces of giant, exotic objects — and astronomers think they know how to look for themJames Webb Space Telescope confirms 1st 'runaway' supermassive black hole rocketing through home galaxy at 2.
2 million mph: 'It boggles the mind!'Black Holes Mysterious bright blue cosmic blasts triggered by black holes shredding stars, scientists say. 'It's definitely not just an exploding star.'The supermassive black hole sitting at the heart of our galaxy is considered to be a slumbering giant. However, an international X-ray spacecraft has discovered that this wasn't always the case. It turns out this supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* , has erupted with powerful and dramatic flares over the course of the last 1,000 years. could change our understanding of how supermassive black holes with masses equivalent to millions or even billions of suns evolve and the role they play in shaping the entire galaxies that swirl around them. Astronomers are shocked by the finding."Nothing in my professional training as an X-ray astronomer had prepared me for something like this," team leader Stephen DiKerby of Michigan State UniversityThis supermassive black hole flung out matter at 134 million mph: 'On a scale almost too big to imagine'James Webb Space Telescope watches our Milky Way galaxy's monster black hole fire out a flare, a point at which their gravity becomes so strong that not even light can escape their grip. However, matter around black holes can become superheated by the friction created by the immense gravity of these cosmic titans, causing it to glow brightly and throw out powerful flares. Sgr A*, which has a mass equivalent to 4 million suns, isn't known to have produced such emissions, however.DiKerby and colleagues discovered the black hole's history of turbulence when they pointed XRISM at a giant cloud of gas known as a molecular cloud near the center of our galaxy, examining the X-rays it emits in painstaking detail. This revealed that the molecular cloud was acting as a cosmic mirror, reflecting X-rays previously emitted by Sgr A* flares.The sensitivity of XRISM, launched in 2023, allowed the team to measure the energies and shapes of X-ray emissions with groundbreaking precision, revealing the movement of the cloud, and also allowing them to test alternative explanations for the cloud's X-ray glow. This ruled out cosmic rays as a cause of this X-ray echo.Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors The team's findings also reveal that XRISM is perfectly suited to studying the universe in such fine detail that the joint NASA, "We're just the lucky scientists who got to solve the problems with handling this data in this brand-new way," DiKerby concluded."One of my favorite things about being an astronomer is realizing I’m the first human to ever see this part of the sky in this way." Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.Mysterious bright blue cosmic blasts triggered by black holes shredding stars, scientists say. 'It's definitely not just an exploding star.' James Webb Space Telescope confirms 1st 'runaway' supermassive black hole rocketing through home galaxy at 2.2 million mph: 'It boggles the mind!' This 7-hour cosmic explosion is the longest gamma-ray burst ever seen. Could it be from an elusive class of black hole? The final 'Greenland 2: Migration' trailer is here, and it's got the '90s disaster movie vibes we've been craving
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