Stellar-mass Black Holes

News & Articles

Illustration of a particle jet emerging from a dying star

NASA’s Fermi Finds New Feature in Brightest Gamma-Ray Burst Yet Seen

4 min read

In October 2022, astronomers were stunned by what was quickly dubbed the BOAT — the brightest-of-all-time gamma-ray burst (GRB). Now…

Article4 months ago

NASA Collaborating on European-led Gravitational Wave Observatory in Space

4 min read

The first space-based observatory designed to detect gravitational waves has passed a major review and will proceed to the construction…

Article10 months ago
This image depicts a gamma-ray burst caused by the merger of two neutron stars. The merger creates gravitational waves (shown as pale arcs rippling outward) being created following the merger of two neutron stars, a near-light-speed jet that produced gamma rays (shown as brown cones and a rapidly traveling magenta glow erupting from the center of the collision), and a donut-shaped ring of expanding blue debris around the center of the explosion. A variety of colors represent the wavelengths of light produced by the kilonova, creating violet to blue-white to red bursts above and below the collision.

Gamma-Ray Bursts: Black Hole Birth Announcements

4 min read

Gamma-ray bursts are the brightest, most violent explosions in the universe, but they can be surprisingly tricky to detect. Our…

Article1 year ago
A gif showing cartoon black holes, one as a crying baby, the other as a king-sized weighlifter

Five Reasons You Wouldn’t Want to Live Near a Black Hole

6 min read

You may have seen a portrayal of planets around supermassive black holes in the movies. But what would the conditions…

Article5 years ago

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An animation shows the Sun in the bottom left corner. Cascading off the Sun are lines in every direction, representing solar wind streams. As they move away, kinks form in the lines, and grow wider as they move outward.