An open question in Astrophysics is why only a small fraction of Supermassive Black holes (SMBHs) at the centre of galaxies are active. A new study now reveals a previously unknown mechanism by which black holes can be triggered.
In a recent study, astrophysicist try to answer how many black holes are there in the Milky Way. Their analysis revealed that not only our galaxy is filled with hundreds of billions of stars, but it also hosts up to 100 million black holes!!
Hitomi, the Japanese X-ray satellite that was destroyed about a month after its launch, will have a successor, after NASA and JAXA signed agreement.
Giant Radio Pulsars (GRPs) consist of sporadic and short-lived radiation, during which time the radio flux density becomes 2-3 orders of magnitudes brighter than the regular, average flux density. Now, astrophysicists used observations from the Hitomi satellite to uncover the origin of these fast radio bursts.
The X-ray pulsars were discovered in the 70s and are among the most luminous objects in the X-ray sky. They are binary systems that consist of a magnetized neutron star in orbit with a normal stellar companion.
The highly acclaimed Platimum Italian financial review published last month
an article on the AHEAD EU programme and its potential contribution to the
ATHENA mission.
X-ray binaries (XRBs) are binary star systems in which one of the two stars is a relativistic object. A black hole or a neutron star. These objects both fascinate and puzzle astrophysicists. A recent study questions the currently prevailing paradigm of black holes powering these systems.
The molecular cloud known as W51 is one of the closest to Earth at a distance of 17,000 light years. The Chandra X-ray observatory observed this cloud in a long exposure lasting 20 hours. About 600 stars have been detected as well as diffuse interstellar gas with a temperature of millions of degrees.
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are galaxies with a rapidly growing supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their centre. A recent study, using both ground and space observations, suggests that many of the brightest SMBHs may be escaping our detection due to their heavily obscured environments. This draws a completely different picture compared to our current understanding of luminous AGN.
Astronomers detected two supermassive black holes (SMBHs) orbiting each other, within a giant elliptical galaxies. The SMBHs are 24 light years apart and have a combined mass of about 15 billion times the mass of our Sun. It takes them about 30,000 years to complete a single orbit
