Astrophysicists discover why black holes and neutron stars shine bright

Researchers find what causes the glow coming from the densest objects in our universe.

Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Hester (Arizona State University)
  • Columbia University astrophysicists discovered the cause of the unusual glow coming from regions of space with black holes and neutron stars.
  • The researchers ran some of the largest computer simulations ever to reach their conclusions.
  • They found that turbulence and reconnection of super-strong magnetic fields are responsible for the light.
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New study says cosmic acceleration and dark energy don't exist

An Oxford scientist claims a Nobel-Prize-winning conclusion is wrong.

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  • Paper by Oxford University physicist Subir Sarkar and his colleagues challenges how conclusions about cosmic acceleration and dark energy were reached.
  • Physicists who proved cosmic acceleration shared a Nobel Prize.
  • Sarkar used statistical analysis to question key data, but his methodology also has detractors.
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Astrophysicist claims "dark fluid" fills the missing 95% of the Universe

An Oxford scientist's controversial theory rethinks dark matter and dark energy.

Credit: YE AUNG THU/AFP/Getty Images.
  • An astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr. Farnes published a paper while at Oxford University with a novel explanation for dark energy and dark matter.
  • His theory claims to explain the missing 95% of the observable universe by the existence of "dark fluid".
  • This fluid has negative mass, repelling other materials.
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Scientists detect tones in the ringing of a newborn black hole for the first time

Results support Einstein's theory and the idea that black holes have no "hair."

Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

If Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity holds true, then a black hole, born from the cosmically quaking collisions of two massive black holes, should itself "ring" in the aftermath, producing gravitational waves much like a struck bell reverberates sound waves.

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NASA observes a black hole feasting on a star

The TESS satellite captures rare images of a cataclysmic event in a faraway galaxy.

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  • TESS, a NASA planet-hunting satellite takes images of a black hole shredding apart a star.
  • This phenomenon, called a tidal disruption event, is very rare.
  • The star was the size of our sun.
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