Scientists have named two systems of colliding supermassive black holes after Lord of the Rings locations, Gondor and Rohan.

Recent observations suggest that 'runaway' black holes are tumbling through the cosmos. Building on decades of theory, the discovery adds a remarkable new chapter to the story of the universe.

A massive star in the nearby Andromeda galaxy has simply disappeared. Some astronomers believe that it's collapsed in on ...

The team discovered the star by analyzing archival data from NASA’s NEOWISE mission. They used a prediction from the 1970s ...

Supermassive black holes rarely travel alone. Most large galaxies hide one at the center, and when galaxies collide, the two ...

A massive star 2.5 million light-years away simply vanished — and astronomers now know why. Instead of exploding in a supernova, it quietly collapsed into a black hole, shedding its outer layers in a ...

In my January 23, 2026, “The Universe” column, I wrote about some of the biggest bangs the universe has to offer: exploding stars, hiccupping magnetars, stellar disruptions and colliding black holes.

New research reveals how quiet galactic engines can help shape entire galaxies.

Scientists say an ultra-powerful neutrino once thought impossible may be explained by an exotic black hole model involving a so-called “dark charge.” ...

New research suggests that the heart of the Milky Way may be dominated by a dense clump of dark matter rather than the ...

Astronomers tracked a star in Andromeda as it dimmed and vanished without the usual fiery explosion, offering rare clues to ...

Scientists have named newly detected merging supermassive black holes after ’Lord of the Rings’ locations, using gravitational wave data and quasar observations to map their mergers.