Black Hole

For the first time, astronomers say they've borne witness to a supermassive black hole consuming a star. Two papers released Wednesday by the journal Nature describe powerful blasts of radiation whose brightness and behavior can be explained only by a sun-sized star being torn apart by the gravitational forces of a black hole at the center of its galaxy, the authors say. Scientists believe they have seen the aftermath of such stellar violence...

Back when single-celled organisms ruled Earth, a gigantic black hole lurking quietly at the center of a distant galaxy dismantled and devoured a star. On Wednesday, astronomers reported that they watched the whole thing unfold over a period of 15 months starting in 2010, the first time such an event had been witnessed in great detail from start to finish. "The star got so close that it was ripped apart by the gravitational force of the black hole," said Johns Hopkins University astronomer Suvi Gezari, lead author of a paper about the observations that was published online by the journal Nature.

Back when single-celled organisms ruled Earth, a gigantic black hole lurking quietly at the center of a distant galaxy dismantled and devoured a star. On Wednesday, astronomers reported that they watched the whole thing unfold over a period of 15 months starting in 2010, the first time such an event had been witnessed in great detail from start to finish. "The star got so close that it was ripped apart by the gravitational force of the black hole," said Johns Hopkins University astronomer Suvi Gezari, lead author of a paper about the observations that was published online by the journal Nature.

SUNDAY It promises to be a tune-filled evening when Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton host "The 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" and the late Whitney Houston is remembered as part of "Celebration of Gospel 2012. " (CBS, 8 p.m.; BET, 8 p.m.) Bad news, folks. "The Killing" and "Game of Thrones" have been canceled. April Fools! Both of these fan favorites return this night for their respective second seasons. Peter Dinklage, below, co-stars in the latter series, an epic fantasy-drama based on the novels of George R. R. Martin.

Astronomers think they have finally solved the cosmic chicken-and-egg problem of what came first -- the giant black holes lying at the center of many big galaxies or the galaxies that feed them? The answer: the black holes. The finding, which surprised even the scientists involved, implies that black holes grow the galaxies surrounding them, like a garden springing from a single seed or a man growing a suit of clothes.

A mysterious object that is eating interstellar gas and emitting X-rays in a telltale pattern is almost certainly a very young black hole ? the first one people have been able to observe at such an early stage, scientists said Monday. An amateur astronomer first spotted the object 31 years ago, when it was a star in the process of exploding into a supernova. Since then, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have documented that X-rays have been emitted from the former star at a surprisingly steady rate over a 12-year period from 1995 to 2007.

Inadvertently, NASA has discovered a black hole (for our taxes) much nearer than anyone suspected. It's named Mars. FRED J. CROWE San Diego

Discovery's astronauts today launched a science satellite to search for a mysterious black hole that may be swallowing stars and cosmic dust in great gulps at the core of the Milky Way. The space agency also said the crew will have another chance on Friday to conduct a "Star Wars" laser test ruined on the first try by an embarrassing goof at Mission Control.

NASA's Swift spacecraft has captured what scientists believe to be the "birth cry" of a black hole caused by the collision of two neutron stars a billion light-years from Earth. The discovery, announced Tuesday, is the best evidence so far that scientists may have found what causes short bursts of high-energy gamma rays, one of the most powerful sources of electromagnetic radiation in the universe.

This is a very contemporary story with a happy ending, though it was first turned into an old-fashioned bureaucratic ordeal for everyone concerned. Lisa Beckel of Los Angeles is now the legal mother of Charlotte and Annie Beckel, 15-month-old twins born last year after her husband, Graham Beckel, contributed the sperm with which the fertile eggs of a surrogate mother from Temecula were inseminated. Lisa Beckel is infertile.

England's Alton Towers is set to unleash the latest salvo in its arsenal of Secret Weapon roller coasters in March 2013 with the addition of a $25-million "world's first" ride aimed squarely at thrill-seekers. PHOTOS: Secret Weapon 7 (SW7) coaster at Alton Towers The United Kingdom theme park recently submitted plans to the local planning district that show a compact track layout with numerous inversions and several subterranean sections. Coaster fans have already converted the submitted plans into highly detailed concept art and animated videos . Alton Towers has not officially announced any details about the new coaster or even released a name for the ride, which is codenamed Secret Weapon 7 , or SW7 for short.  The custom track layout appears to feature at least eight inversions (with as many as 11, by some accounts)

Of all the hangovers from the George W. Bush years, the thorniest may be what to do about the U.S. military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There are still 171 detainees at Guantanamo and little consensus on what to do with them. Last spring, President Obama announced the resumption of military trials for some of those charged with participating in the 9/11 attacks. These trials, known as military commissions, have been stalled for years by legal challenges. Recently, the official in charge of the Guantanamo prison, Rear Adm. David Woods, issued a draft order that compounds these challenges.

Astrophysicists scanning the heavens have clocked a new cosmological record: the two biggest black holes ever detected — one about 10 billion times the mass of our sun and the second as much as twice the size of the first. To be described in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature, these behemoth black holes are nearly double the size of the previous record-holder and — strangely — are far more massive than they should be given the size of the galaxies they reside within. For that reason, they stand to teach scientists much about how galaxies form and grow, astronomers said.

For the first time, astronomers say they've borne witness to a supermassive black hole consuming a star. Two papers released Wednesday by the journal Nature describe powerful blasts of radiation whose brightness and behavior can be explained only by a sun-sized star being torn apart by the gravitational forces of a black hole at the center of its galaxy, the authors say. Scientists believe they have seen the aftermath of such stellar violence...

Astronomers have discovered a hidden collection of supermassive, growing black holes dating back to the early universe -- showing, for the first time, that black holes populated the cosmos far earlier than thought. The findings, published online Wednesday in the journal Nature, could help scientists understand how these black holes are born, how big they grow and how galaxies develop with them. "We know the nearest galaxies, like our own Milky Way, all have supermassive black holes in the center," said lead author Ezequiel Treister, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.

Software engineer Colby Gutierrez-Kraybill sat alone in an observatory in this volcanic valley near Mt. Shasta, staring out a picture window at storm clouds gathering over the world's largest instrument to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He had reason to look forlorn, surrounded by empty bookshelves, unmarked chalkboards and rows of tables where scientists from around the world once argued over the best direction to aim 42 radio telescopes designed to act as an enormous ear capable of scanning more than a million stars over 10 billion radio frequencies.

I am writing from the Combined Bachelors' Quarters on the leeward side of Guantanamo Bay. Particularly in the age of "don't ask, don't tell," it is a strange name for a military barracks. Yet the irony of this place runs deep, as does the tragedy. The base motto is "Honor Bound to Defend Freedom," even though my clients, who are prisoners in the detention center, have none.

Happy New Year? Depends on whom you ask. David Stern ? Who could ask for more, the Heat, the Celtics, the Lakers! Glamour matchups for years and years! Hey, what happened to my Lakers? Phil Jackson ? Well, it started with the World Cup in South Africa. . . . Stern ? Isn't that soccer? Jackson ? I told Andrew Bynum it was OK to go before he had surgery and Kobe Bryant did too, although he didn't ask. Then we ran short of big men and our owner wouldn't get us someone because it cost $70,000 a week.

A mysterious object that is eating interstellar gas and emitting X-rays in a telltale pattern is almost certainly a very young black hole ? the first one people have been able to observe at such an early stage, scientists said Monday. An amateur astronomer first spotted the object 31 years ago, when it was a star in the process of exploding into a supernova. Since then, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have documented that X-rays have been emitted from the former star at a surprisingly steady rate over a 12-year period from 1995 to 2007.