Air quality advisories issued in 5 provinces, 1 territory
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
An ultramassive black hole, understood to be one of the largest ever detected, has been discovered by astronomers using a new technique.
The findings, published by the Royal Astronomical Society, show that the black hole is more than 30 billion times the mass of the sun -- a scale rarely seen by astronomers.
The researchers described it as an "extremely exciting" discovery that opens up "tantalizing" possibilities for detecting further black holes.
The team, led by Durham University in the United Kingdom, used a technique known as gravitational lensing -- whereby a nearby galaxy is used as a giant magnifying glass to bend the light from a more distant object. This enabled them to closely examine how light is bent by a black hole inside a galaxy hundreds of millions of light years from Earth.
Supercomputer simulations and images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope were also used to confirm the size of the black hole.
This is the first black hole found using gravitational lensing, with the team simulating light travelling through the universe hundreds of thousands of times, according to a news release from the Royal Astronomical Society.
"This particular black hole, which is roughly 30 billion times the mass of our Sun, is one of the biggest ever detected and on the upper limit of how large we believe black holes can theoretically become, so it is an extremely exciting discovery," lead study author James Nightingale, an observational cosmologist from the Department of Physics at Durham University, said.
"Most of the biggest black holes that we know about are in an active state, where matter pulled in close to the black hole heats up and releases energy in the form of light, X-rays, and other radiation," Nightingale added.
"However, gravitational lensing makes it possible to study inactive black holes, something not currently possible in distant galaxies. This approach could let us detect many more black holes beyond our local universe and reveal how these exotic objects evolved further back in cosmic time."
Researchers believe the finding is significant as it "opens up the tantalising possibility that astronomers can discover far more inactive and ultramassive black holes than previously thought" and "investigate how they grew so large," according to the news release.
The story of this particular discovery started back in 2004 when fellow Durham University astronomer, Alastair Edge, a research fellow, noticed a giant arc of a gravitational lens when reviewing images of a galaxy survey, according to the news release.
The team has now revisited the discovery and explored it further with the help of NASA's Hubble telescope and the DiRAC COSMA8 supercomputer.
Ultramassive black holes are the most massive objects in the universe and a rare find for astronomers.
Their origins are unclear, with some believing they were formed from the merging of galaxies billions of years ago.
Each time a galaxy merges with another one, stars are lost and a black hole gains mass -- which accounts for the incredibly high mass of some black holes.
Air quality advisories are in effect across Western Canada as smoky conditions plague some areas, according to the latest forecasts. Here's where.
Many foods fall under the category of ultraprocessed foods, depending on their exact ingredients. This type of food has been studied a lot lately, and the results aren’t great.
Four years on, the controversy over whether airlines owed refunds to passengers after cancelling hundreds of thousands of flights during the pandemic continues to simmer, aggravated by a sluggish, opaque complaints process.
For her latest column on CTVNews.ca, royal commentator Afua Hagan writes about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's recent visit to Nigeria, calling it a 'deeply meaningful campaign' that was about aligning their ongoing efforts to foster mental-health awareness and promoting the Invictus Games.
Ontario will need 33,200 more nurses and 50,853 more personal support workers by 2032, the government projects — figures it tried to keep secret but were obtained by The Canadian Press.
After receiving a DNA kit one Christmas from his son-in-law, Hugh McCormick soon discovered that he had six unknown siblings, with whom he shared the same birth parents.
Thousands have been forced to flee a wildfire burning near Fort Nelson. Meanwhile, some experienced volunteers are staying behind to fight the fire.
A new study projecting declining rates of cancer cases and deaths in Canada demonstrates the success of prevention and early detection programs, but also highlights areas where more work is needed to save and prolong lives, researchers say.
Kansas could soon offer up to US$5 million in grants for schools to outfit surveillance cameras with artificial intelligence systems that can spot people carrying guns. But the governor needs to approve the expenditures and the schools must meet some very specific criteria.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'