white flare of light at left gives rise to spiral jet going off to the right

Stellar Science

Astronomers Find a Brilliant Explosion That Just Keeps On Exploding

A brilliant flash of blue light briefly outshined its host galaxy before fading away — but then it exploded again and again, shedding light on the nature of its source.

black hole shredding star

Black Holes

Shredded Star Reveals Elusive Middle-Mass Black Hole

Astronomers have used the death of a star to uncover details about a hidden intermediate-mass black hole.

Tidal disruption event

Black Holes

Star-shredding Black Hole Makes Ghostlike Particle

A single high-energy neutrino may shed light on a star being swallowed by a supermassive black hole some 690 million light-years away.

Location of AT2018cow

Stellar Science

Celestial Event Dubbed "The Cow" Puzzles Astronomers

Astronomers can't agree on what kind of strange stellar death created a brilliant source dubbed "the Cow."

tidal disruption event illustration

Stellar Science

Black Hole Destroys Star and Shoots Jet

Astronomers have watched the growth of a jet fueled by a shredded star.

Zwicky Transient Facility first light image in Orion

Professional Telescopes

Sky-sweeping Telescope Sees First Light

The Zwicky Transient Facility has taken its first image, covering an area equivalent to 247 full Moons in a single shot. This beginning is part of an ongoing sea change in astronomy.

Decade-long tidal disruption event

Black Holes

Black Hole Feeds on Star for a Decade

Unlucky stars serve as brilliant but short-lived snacks when they wander too close to supermassive black holes. But one such black hole is still gnawing on its stellar meal after a decade.

Black Holes

Milky Way’s Black Hole Is Throwing Cosmic Spitballs

Every now and then, the Milky Way’s central, supermassive black hole tears apart a star and flings away some of its innards. Now astronomers think they know how to spot these cosmic spitballs.