A University of Utah astronomer and his colleagues discovered that an ultracompact dwarf galaxy harbors a supermassive black hole — the smallest galaxy known to contain such a massive light-sucking object. The finding suggests huge black holes may be more common than previously believed. “It is the smallest and lightest ...
Read More »Home / Tag Archives: supermassive black hole
Black Hole Is About to Gobble Up Gas Cloud
Watching for a black hole to gobble up a gas cloud: Gas cloud’s fate illuminates growth of supermassive black holes Right now a doomed gas cloud is edging ever closer to the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. These black holes feed on gas and ...
Read More »Chandra and XMM-Newton provide direct measurement of distant black hole’s spin
Astronomers have used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) XMM-Newton to show a supermassive black hole six billion light years from Earth is spinning extremely rapidly. This first direct measurement of the spin of such a distant black hole is an important advance for understanding how ...
Read More »