Black holes

Artist's concept of the orbits of 3 stars near the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way (Image ESO/M. Parsa/L. Calçada)

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” describes an analysis of the motions of stars that orbit the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, particularly the one known as S2. A team of astronomers applied a new analytical technique to observations conducted in the past with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile and other telescopes concluding that those orbits are influenced by the effects of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” describes a research involving 16 of the brightest known quasars. A team of researchers led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) examined in particular those quasars’ infrared emissions to identify young hot stars in the galaxies hosting them concluding that a lot of them are forming, at a rate up to about 4,000 times higher than in the Milky Way.

Artist's concept of the dusty starburst galaxy WISE J224607.57-052635.0 (Image NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” describes a research suggesting that in primeval galaxies of the type called dusty starburst – because dust filters their light – star formation activity can be inhibited by the presence of a quasar. A team of astronomers from Iowa University used the ALMA radio telescope to locate the quasars and then other telescopes to observe them at various wavelengths.

Artist's illustration of a gamma-ray burst (Image NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

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An article published in the journal “Nature” describes the observation of a gamma-ray burst named GRB 160625B. An international team of astronomers led by Eleonora Troja of the University of Maryland used a number of telescopes after its discovery with NASA’s Fermi space telescope to detect the properties of this extremely energetic event, its geometry, the orientation of its jets and the origin of its extremely bright optical flash.

NGC 5194 and NGC 5195

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An article submitted for publication in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” describes a research on the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy NGC 5195, which is undergoing some sort of indigestion. Using data collected with various telescopes, a team of astronomers at the University of Manchester discovered that the black hole causes chaotic events in its galaxy. Among the causes there’s its interaction with a much larger galaxy called NGC 5194 or Whirlpool galaxy.