Topic description and stories

The environment of the galaxy system ZS7 from the JWST PRIMER programme as seen by Webb's NIRCam instrument.

Webb detects most distant black hole merger to date

16 May 2024

An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, has used the James Webb Space Telescope to find evidence for an ongoing...

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The GN-z11 galaxy, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

Astronomers detect oldest black hole ever observed

17 Jan 2024

Researchers have discovered the oldest black hole ever observed, dating from the dawn of the universe, and found that it is ‘eating’ its host galaxy...

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H1821+643, a quasar powered by a supermassive black hole

Chandra Observatory shows black hole spins slower than its peers

30 Jun 2022

Astronomers have made a record-breaking measurement of a black hole’s spin, one of two fundamental properties of black holes. NASA’s Chandra X-ray...

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Messier 101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy)

Supermassive black holes put a brake on stellar births

21 Mar 2022

Black holes with masses equivalent to millions of suns do put a brake on the birth of new stars, say astronomers. Using machine learning and three...

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Professor Sir Roger Penrose

Roger Penrose wins 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovery about black holes

06 Oct 2020

Professor Sir Roger Penrose, Honorary Fellow and alumnus of St John’s College Cambridge and honorary doctor of the University, has jointly won the...

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Astronomers use ‘cosmic echo-location’ to map black hole surroundings

20 Jan 2020

Material falling into a black hole casts X-rays out into space – and now astronomers have used the echoes of this radiation to map the dynamic...

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Women in STEM: Amy Rankine

21 Nov 2019

Amy Rankine is a PhD candidate in the Institute of Astronomy and a member of Clare Hall. Here, she tells us about being the first in her family to go...

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An artist’s impression of the jet launched by a supermassive black hole, which inflates lobes of very hot gas that are distorted by the cluster weather.

Stormy cluster weather could unleash black hole power and explain lack of cosmic cooling

21 Oct 2019

“Weather” in clusters of galaxies may explain a longstanding puzzle, according to a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge.

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Supermassive black holes.

A force to be reckoned with

27 Nov 2017

Gravity is one of the universe's great mysteries. We decided to find out why. Think you know what gravity is? Think again. New research is revealing...

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Stephen Hawking

Cambridge celebrates Stephen Hawking’s 75th birthday

03 Jul 2017

Some of the biggest names in science took part in a special public event yesterday (2 July) to celebrate the life and work of Stephen Hawking, on the...

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Artist's conception shows two merging black holes similar to those detected by LIGO.

LIGO detects gravitational waves for third time

01 Jun 2017

Results confirm new population of black holes.

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‘Saddle-shaped’ universe could undermine general relativity

22 May 2017

Researchers have shown how singularities – which are normally only found at the centre of black holes and hidden from view – could exist in highly...

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