relativity

Topic description and stories

Astronomers observe light bending around an isolated white dwarf

02 Feb 2023

Astronomers have directly measured the mass of a dead star using an effect known as gravitational microlensing, first predicted by Einstein in his...

Artist's conception shows two merging black holes similar to those detected by LIGO.

LIGO detects gravitational waves for third time

01 Jun 2017

Results confirm new population of black holes.

Illustration of gravitational vortex, Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

Gravitational vortex provides new way to study matter close to a black hole

12 Jul 2016

An international team of astronomers has proved the existence of a ‘gravitational vortex’ around a black hole, solving a mystery that has eluded...

Five-dimensional black hole could ‘break’ general relativity

19 Feb 2016

Researchers have successfully simulated how a ring-shaped black hole could cause general relativity to break down: assuming the universe contains at...

Gravitational waves detected 100 years after Einstein’s prediction

11 Feb 2016

New window on the universe is opened with the observation of gravitational waves – ripples in spacetime – caused by the collision of two black holes...

Black Holes Go 'Mano a Mano' (NASA, Chandra, 10/06/09)

New insights found in black hole collisions

27 Mar 2015

New research provides revelations about the most energetic event in the universe — the merging of two spinning, orbiting black holes into a much...

Black Holes: Monsters in Space (Artist's Concept)

Big, spinning black hole blurs light

14 Aug 2014

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has captured an extreme and rare event in the regions immediately surrounding a supermassive...

The galaxy NGC 4151. Researchers were able to use this galaxy to accumulate data about flares coming from a mysterious X-ray source close to the giant black hole at its centre.

“Echo” of light augurs new era in study of black holes

31 May 2012

A long-sought “echo” of light that promises to reveal more about supersized black holes in distant galaxies has been identified by an international...