Independent reporting on space, archaeology and ancient worlds
For the passionately Curious
Browse Curiosmos
A new Nature Astronomy study finds that black holes of very different sizes may launch jets at the same low accretion threshold. Tidal disruption events let astronomers watch the transition in real time.
A supermassive black hole in the galaxy NGC 1275 produced a powerful X-ray flare, and its radio emission brightened 296 days later. The long delay gives astronomers a rare way…
Researchers have completed one of the largest computer simulations of cosmic history yet assembled. Called ASTRID, it follows the growth of galaxies and black holes from the universe’s early days…
What is a supernova? It is a stellar explosion powerful enough to briefly outshine an entire galaxy. Some supernovae mark the collapse of massive stars. Others happen when a dense…
Astronomers have found a faint star taking an extraordinary route around the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. The star, named S301, reaches about 25,000 kilometres per…
The centre of the Milky Way is a difficult place for fragile molecules. Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy, is surrounded by intense radiation,…
Euclid has found 31 quasars from the universe’s first 700 million years, giving astronomers a new way to study how early supermassive black holes grew.
A star being torn apart by a black hole is already an unusual sight. In this case, the black hole was in an even stranger place: more than 30,000 light-years…
Half a century ago, astronomers first hypothesized that there is a supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy. A lot of data speaks in support of this version;…
Not so long ago, I finished reading Stephen Hawking’s book–his “final” book, called Brief Answers to the Big Questions. As usual, Hawking’s book was very digestible and completely clear. It…