Star in closest orbit ever seen around black hole
March 14, 2017Astronomers have found evidence of a star that whips around a likely black hole twice an hour. This could be the tightest orbital dance ever seen by a black hole and a companion star in our own Milky Way galaxy.
Fatal attraction burns bright between star and black hole
December 13, 2016An extraordinarily brilliant point of light seen in a distant galaxy, and dubbed ASASSN-15lh, was thought to be the brightest supernova ever seen. But new observations from several observatories, including ESO, have now cast doubt on this classification.
Ten trillionths of your suntan comes from beyond our galaxy
August 12, 2016In a study published today, astronomers have accurately measured the light hitting the Earth from outside our galaxy over a very broad wavelength range.