black holes

miscellanyHubble Space TelescopeMarsclimate changesupernovaeexoplanetscometsgravitational wavessolar systemESA2025Jupiterwhite dwarfsPlutoaliensdustasteroidsneutron starsastrophotographymeteoritesstar clustersvolcanoesmathEarthcosmologypulsarsmoonsthe SunscifiFast Radio BurstsVera Rubin ObservatorynebulaAstronomybrown dwarfsNASAPoliticsgalaxy clusterslight pollutionplanetary nebulaerecipedebunkingblack holesphysicsTVnight skygravitational lensingVenusAbout the newsletterspacered dwarfsMoonAbout mespace explorationimpactsnovaebinary starsSgr A*starsTNOssciencegalaxiesJWSTGamma-ray burstsdark matterColliding galaxiesstar formationMilky Way GalaxyScientific AmericanGaia
exoplanetsexoplanets
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Sometimes, stars eat their planets
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Sometimes, stars eat their planets

Astronomers trace lithium to find some red dwarfs that dined on some rocky worlds

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
MarsMars
+4+4
Farewell Mars, and bigger black holes form by eating each other

Farewell Mars, and bigger black holes form by eating each other

Psyche takes a parting shot of the red planet; black holes in the “mass gap” form by merging two smaller black holes

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
Hubble Space TelescopeHubble Space Telescope
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Another gorgeous Hubble galaxy, but it has many secrets
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Another gorgeous Hubble galaxy, but it has many secrets

NGC 7722 is a weird hybrid of galaxy types. What does that tell us?

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
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Our Milky Way’s supermassive black hole has a hiccuppy past

Our Milky Way’s supermassive black hole has a hiccuppy past

It may erupt every few centuries, but don’t panic!

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
exoplanetsexoplanets
+3+3
A black hole’s one-fifth lightspeed belch, and JWST finds a lava planet with an atmosphere

A black hole’s one-fifth lightspeed belch, and JWST finds a lava planet with an atmosphere

An incredibly fast wind from a black hole, and a super-hot super-Earth may have a broiling atmosphere, too

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
supernovaesupernovae
+4+4
JWST observed an immense gamma-ray burst from a very long time ago
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JWST observed an immense gamma-ray burst from a very long time ago

An incredibly powerful explosion reached out to us from across the Universe

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
EarthEarth
+5+5
Today our planet will not be destroyed. Probably.

Today our planet will not be destroyed. Probably.

I mean, no promises. But it won’t be because the Maya predicted it.

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
exoplanetsexoplanets
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The woman who discovered the first black hole

The woman who discovered the first black hole

Betty Webster is a name to remember. Also: more rogue binary jovians

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
cosmologycosmology
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A Little Red Dot may be a mostly naked supermassive black hole
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A Little Red Dot may be a mostly naked supermassive black hole

This has implications for how such behemoths form in the first place

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
white dwarfswhite dwarfs
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A white dwarf may have been torn to shreds by a black hole

A white dwarf may have been torn to shreds by a black hole

Just writing that sentence made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
asteroidsasteroids
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A black hole is eating way above its weight, and ancient tektites in Australia
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A black hole is eating way above its weight, and ancient tektites in Australia

Something is helping this black hole gobble down material at incredible rates

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
dustdust
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Little Red Dots at the edge of the universe may be black holes powering gigantic balls of gas

Little Red Dots at the edge of the universe may be black holes powering gigantic balls of gas

These “Black Hole Stars” are theoretical, but do explain what we see

Philip Plait
Philip Plait