Astronomers have spotted the most massive known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy after detecting an unusual wobble in space.

The so-called "sleeping giant," named Gaia BH3, has a mass that is nearly 33 times that of our sun, and it's located 1926 light-years away in the Aquila constellation, making it the second-closest known black hole to Earth.

The closest black hole is Gaia BH1, which is located about 1500 light-years away and has a mass that is nearly 10 times that of our sun.

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Astronomers discovered the black hole while combing through observations taken by the European Space Agency's Gaia space telescope for an upcoming data release to the scientific community.

The researchers weren't expecting to find anything, but a peculiar motion — caused by Gaia BH3's gravitational influence on a nearby companion — caught their eye.

Many "dormant" black holes don't have a companion close enough to munch on, so they are much more difficult to spot and don't generate any light.

But other stellar black holes siphon material from companion stars, and this exchange of matter releases bright X-rays that can be spotted through telescopes.

The wobbling movement of an old giant star in the Aquila constellation revealed that it was in an orbital dance with a dormant black hole, and it's the third such dormant black hole spotted by Gaia.

The researchers used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile's Atacama Desert and other ground-based observatories to confirm the mass of Gaia BH3, and their study has also offered new clues to how such huge black holes came to be.

The findings appeared on Tuesday in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"No one was expecting to find a high-mass black hole lurking nearby, undetected so far," said lead study author Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris, part of France's National Centre for Scientific Research, and a Gaia collaboration member, in a statement.

"This is the kind of discovery you make once in your research life."

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The secrets of ancient stars

The title for the most massive black hole in our galaxy will always belong to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole located at the centre of the Milky Way, which has about four million times the mass of the sun, but that is because it's a supermassive black hole, rather than a stellar black hole.

The process by which supermassive black holes form is poorly understood, but one theory suggests it happens when massive cosmic clouds collapse.

Stellar black holes form when massive stars die.

So Gaia BH3 is the most massive black hole in our galaxy that formed from the death of a massive star.

Stellar black holes observed across the Milky Way galaxy are about 10 times as massive as the sun on average.

Until the discovery of Gaia BH3, the largest known stellar black hole in our galaxy was Cygnus X-1, which is 21 times the mass of the sun.

While Gaia BH3 is an exceptional find within our galaxy by astronomers' standards, it is similar in mass to objects found in very distant galaxies.

Scientists believe stellar black holes with masses such as Gaia BH3's formed when metal-poor stars collapsed.

These stars, which include hydrogen and helium as their heaviest elements, are thought to lose less mass over their lifetimes, so they have more material at the end that can result in a high-mass black hole.

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But astronomers hadn't been able to find evidence directly linking high-mass black holes and metal-poor stars until they found Gaia BH3.

The study authors said that paired stars tend to be similar in composition.

True to expectations, the researchers found that the star orbiting Gaia BH3 was metal-poor, which means that the star that formed Gaia BH3 was likely the same.

"What strikes me is that the chemical composition of the companion is similar to what we find in old metal-poor stars in the galaxy," study coauthor Elisabetta Caffau, a Gaia collaboration member at the Observatoire de Paris, said in a statement.

The star orbiting Gaia BH3 likely formed in the first two billion years after the big bang created the universe 13.8 billion years ago.

The star's trajectory, which moves in the opposite direction of many stars in the galactic disk of the Milky Way, suggests it was part of a small galaxy that merged with the Milky Way more than eight billion years ago.

Now, the team hopes the research can allow other astronomers to study the colossal black hole and uncover more of its secrets without having to wait for the rest of the Gaia data release, slated for late next year.

"It's impressive to see the transformational impact Gaia is having on astronomy and astrophysics," said Carole Mundell, the European Space Agency's director of science.

"Its discoveries are reaching far beyond the original purpose of the mission, which is to create an extraordinarily precise multi-dimensional map of more than a billion stars throughout our Milky Way."

A man has suffered a facial injury after he was hit with a megaphone during an assault in Melbourne's CBD last month.

Police believe the assault unfolded after two men witnessed a group of protesters hanging up posters outside a business on Swanston Street about 6.20pm on March 24.

The men pulled down the posters before the protesters confronted them.

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Detectives said a brawl ensued, resulting in one of the victims, a 31-year-old Murrumbeena man, suffering facial injuries.

It's believed he was struck in the face with a megaphone by a protester.

Investigators have released images of two women and a man that they believe may be able to assist with their enquiries.

The first woman is described as being of Middle Eastern appearance, aged in her 20s-30s, wearing a black baseball cap, black T-shirt, a keffiyeh, olive/green cargo pants, black work boots and long black hair.

The man is described as being a Caucasian male in his 30s wearing a dark T-shirt with 'Resistance' printed on it, green and brown camouflage pants, black Vans street shoes, with red hair and red beard.

The second woman is described as Middle Eastern appearance, in her 30s, red hooded sweatshirt with centreline zip, blue jeans, white street shoes, with long black hair tied back.

The couple who died at a rural Auckland address on Thursday afternoon can be named as Alfred Helge Hansen and Gaye Carole Hansen.

The pair, aged in their 80s, were found dead in a paddock by a relative who'd gone to check on them on Thursday morning.

It is believed they died after a ram attacked them.

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Stuff understands the husband went to feed the ram, but didn't return.

His wife was killed when she went looking for him.

Police said another person at the farm was injured by the ram.

Police were called to the property on Anzac Valley Rd in Waitākere just before 7.30am on Thursday, and a scene examination was underway.

Police said the ram was still in the paddock when they arrived and it was shot after becoming aggressive towards them.

The victims' nephew and family spokesperson Dean Burrell said their deaths were linked to an animal.

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"My aunty and her husband lived at this property.

"They've lived here for about eight years.

"Unfortunately they've both lost their lives in a tragic accident."

The circumstances of their passing was very unexpected, he said, adding that he was still coming to terms with it.

Burrell said the couple rented the property.

They were retired hobby farmers and had sheep, cattle and chickens for 8 years.

"They're good people. They're over 80.

"They don't deserve this.

"Everyone is in shock as to what's happened. They are very upset."

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Burrell said he felt like he was dreaming when he found out what happened.

"I just didn't believe it."

Burrell, a front line police officer, was supporting the family given he understood the formal investigation process.

His grief was yet to sink in, he said.

He and his family requested privacy while they came to terms with the loss.

Social media can be a divisive place, but even more so when it comes to Taylor Swift.

A Google Drive link allegedly containing 17 tracks that are purportedly from Swift's eagerly awaited "The Tortured Poets Department" album has been making the rounds on the internet in the past day and people are equal parts mad, sad and happy about it.

Swift's 10th album will be released at 2pm AEST today, Friday April 19.

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The claimed leak is both being hailed and nailed by Swift's supporters.

One person shared a drawing of a young woman asleep in a sparkly bed with sparkly blankets on X, writing, "How I slept last night knowing I'm going to hear TTPD for the very first time tonight cause I haven't listened to any leaks."

Yet another person posted a video of two models walking and wrote, "Me and my bestie on our way to listen to #TSTTPD leaks."

On Thursday, "Taylor Swift leaks" was a prevented search phrase on X.

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The general consensus among those who have decided to be "leak-free" appears to be that they are the true Swifties – as her hardcore fan base is known – because they don't believe the singer would have sanctioned such a "leak."

Swift herself has gone to great lengths to prevent unintended early releases in the past.

"I have a lot of maybe, maybe-not-irrational fears of security invasion, wiretaps, people eavesdropping," Swift said of her music during an 2014 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

She added that her "1989" album only existed on her phone, "covered in cat stickers and the volume buttons don't work very well because there's candy stuck in there," for nearly two years.

"The Tortured Poets Department" is Swift's 11th album and comes after she became the first woman and only solo artist to win the Grammy for album of the year three times.

Land is sinking underneath millions of peoples' feet in China's major cities due to human activities, putting the country's coastal areas more at risk of flooding and rising sea levels, new research shows.

Nearly half of China's urban areas comprising 29 per cent of the country's population are sinking faster than 3 millimetres a year, according to the study published Thursday (Friday AEST) in the journal Science. That's 270 million people living on sinking land.

Meanwhile, 67 million people are living on land that is subsiding faster than 10 millimetres a year.

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China's rampant groundwater extraction is one of the primary factors for subsidence, researchers said. Cities have been pumping water from underground aquifers faster than it can be replenished, a situation exacerbated by climate change-fuelled drought. Excessive pumping lowers the water table and causes the overlying land to sink.

The land is also sinking due to the growing weight of cities themselves. Soil can compact, naturally from the weight of sediments accumulating over time and from heavy buildings pressing down on the ground, causing the land to steadily sink.

Land subsidence isn't just a problem in China. In the US, dozens of coastal cities, including New York City, are sinking. In the Netherlands, 25 per cent of its lands have sunk lower than sea levels. And in Mexico City, likely the world's fastest subsiding city, land is sinking at the speed of up to 50 centimetres, or nearly 20 inches, a year.

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The impact of sinking is typically worse along the coasts, where the sea level is rising at the same time. This combination exposes more land, people and property to destructive flooding.

The study suggests roughly a quarter of China's coasts will be lower than sea level because of subsidence and projected sea level rise, priming the area for colossal damage and putting lives at risk. Tianjin, Shanghai and areas around Guangzhou are significantly exposed to both issues, the study found.

But some coastal areas in China have already built physical protection from the growing risk of inundation, and the study does not take those protections into account. In Shanghai, for example, Shengli Tao, co-author of the study and professor at Peking University, said the city has built "impressive" dike systems that are metres tall.

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"Such massive coastal dike systems will largely reduce the risk of being inundated even given both land subsidence and sea level rise," Tao told CNN. "I am not aware of other countries that have built such massive dike systems."

Thursday's study is "scientifically robust" and did "a fine job" of highlighting that subsidence is not just a "coastal problem," said Leonard Ohenhen, a doctoral researcher at Virginia Tech who recently published a study on land subsidence in the US.

"Most urban cities experience land subsidence, but we focus our attention on coastal cities because of sea level rise," Ohenhen, who was not involved with the study, told CNN. "However most urban cities experience land subsidence at rates comparable or even greater than subsidence in coastal cities."

Tao said the Chinese government is addressing the sinking in a few ways, including implementing strict laws to control groundwater pumping in the last few years. Shanghai and surrounding areas have been limiting groundwater withdrawals, which has slowed the region's rate of subsidence. Decades ago, Shanghai's subsidence was a significant issue, Tao said.

China has also been pumping water from the Yangtze River in southern China to northern China – including to Beijing – which has suffered from water shortages. The project prevents the need for over-pumping groundwater and has stopped land subsidence in Beijing, the study found.

"I believe China's government efforts will address the issue of land subsidence," Tao said. "But I would suggest to keep controlling groundwater withdrawals for major cities and constantly maintain dike systems in coastal lands."

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Police are hunting four alleged young offenders who allegedly assaulted a man who confronted them for trespassing in Brisbane.

The group allegedly broke into a home in Willawong about 10pm on Tuesday and was faced with the owner, Rick Madsen.

"What the hell are you guys doing on our property?" he could be heard saying on security footage.

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The group, however, was undeterred and allegedly punched the 60-year-old multiple times in the face before he fell to the ground.

His screams brought his nephew Cameron running.

"You start hearing him scream 'help, help' so I just run out of the house and you see him lying on the ground," Cameron told 9News.

Police reportedly took over two hours to arrive on the scene, and group allegedly broke into another home on the same street in that time. 

The Madsen family have confirmed Rick is doing okay but said it was the fourth time since December their homes had been targeted.

Headphones and a laptop were among the items taken. 

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"You sort of end up sleeping with one eye open," Peter, Rick's son, said. 

"Everyone up and down the street keeps getting hit as well," Cameron added. 

George's Loader Hire, a railway business about one kilometre up the road, believes the same group had allegedly broken into their business on the same night – making it the third time they had been targeted in a week and the second time in one day. 

The business has upped security after suffering property damage and theft.

"The impact on our business is immense," managing director Kelly Cooke told 9News.

"Short of sleeping here, which we have considered, we feel we've done as much as we can."

The group of alleged offenders is currently on the run as police continue their investigations.

A first-of-its-kind surf haven has opened in Sydney today, three kilometres away from the nearest beach.

Urbn Surf Wave Park at Olympic Park offers four hectares of surf, pumping out up to 600 waves per hour.

Aussie surf legend Owen Wright said the waves were world class.

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"The competition out there was fierce, this is a world-class wave in the middle of the city," Wright told 9News.

The park is open to amateurs and pros alike, with entry tickets ranging in price from $39 to $140 depending on the session length and surfers' experience.

"When you look at what we are providing here, perfect waves on tap … you don't have to travel to the beach … it's supervised, you've got lifeguards," Urbn Surf CEO Damon Tudor said.

The lagoon cost $75 million to develop and build. 

The surf park will also operate as a training ground for surf rescuers, partnering with Surfing NSW.

"We can create those environments for surfers to know how to respond in those emergency situations," a spokesperson for Surfing NSW said.

It will also host learn-to-swim days. 

A Sydney property developer has admitted to his part in burning down a $24 million heritage-listed home on the city's Lower North Shore.

Steve Nassif, 70, admitted in court today that he was involved in the arson of a heritage property in Northwood, Sydney, in September 2022.

The home, which was built in 1915, was destroyed by the fire.

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It wasn't insured at the time.

It was revealed in court that the first attempt to firebomb the home had failed, as an accomplice backed out at the last minute.

Two weeks later on September 5, 2022, the homes' torching was caught on security cameras, with the getaway van, a grey Toyota Hi-Ace, later found at the developer's Wentworth Falls mansion.

Nassif pleaded guilty to damaging a property by fire at the Downing Centre Local Court today.

Defence barrister Mark Dennis SC told the court there was "no apparent motive."

The 70-year-old property developer is facing up to 10 years in prison, but currently remains out on bail.

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An application was made by prosecutors to keep him behind bars until sentencing, however, Nassif argued that the stress of a potential jail sentence had left him with depression, anxiety and PTSD.

The developer also needs to be tested for dementia and claimed that his wife suffers from panic disorder with agoraphobia, and he fears she can't be left alone.

The home in Northwood boasted a $24.1 million price tag, a tennis court and water frontage.

It was bought in 2021 by fund manager "Owen" Ouyang Chen and his sister, 10 months before the blaze.

Chen is known to Nassif but has denied setting the fire or hiring someone to do so. He has never been charged and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on his part.

Nassif will return to court in May.

“No injuries have been reported,” police said.

A teenager accused of taking part in a violent riot and damaging two police cars after the stabbing of a Sydney bishop says he made a mistake but he was angry about officers' violence.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was attacked during a live-streamed sermon to those at Christ the Good Shepherd Church at Wakeley in Sydney's western suburbs on Monday night.

The incident sparked volatile scenes outside the church, where a crowd of people gathered over several hours as parts of the unruly crowd peppered police and other emergency service personnel with projectiles.

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An estimated 2000 people took part in the "riotous assembly", according to court documents.

Dani Mansour, from Doonside, was the first person arrested and charged over the public-disorder incident, although police said they were looking for as many as 50 people over their roles in the riot.

The 19-year-old appeared at Blacktown Local Court on Thursday supported by his mother, father and sister.

Mansour allegedly filmed himself kicking two police cars during the riot before uploading the footage to Instagram.

Speaking to reporters outside Blacktown police station on Thursday, he said he had "just done one (police car)".

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When asked to explain his actions, Mansour said he was "pissed off" at officers who had hurt people outside the church.

"I saw there – a guy – his hand was all bleeding from the cops," he said.

During the earlier bail hearing, Magistrate Aaron Tang said police and paramedics were just trying to do their job but were caught in a volatile situation.

"There is no place for vigilante justice in our society," he said.

"Whilst the court acknowledges the traumatic impact of the stabbing of the bishop on the church community, those involved in the alleged riot acted in a reprehensible way."

Mansour was granted strict conditional bail on charges of rioting, affray and destroying or damaging property during a public-disorder incident.

The rioting charge carries a maximum jail term of 15 years.

While Mansour was yet to make a plea, Tang noted there was a prospect the 19-year-old could serve time behind bars if he was guilty.

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As the sole breadwinner of his family, Mansour will be under house arrest and only allowed outside to go to work as a barber or when in the company of his mother, father or sister.

The 19-year-old will only be allowed to use one mobile phone and is banned from social media.

He will next come before Blacktown Local Court on May 2 and the case will be referred to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.

A 16-year-old has been arrested over the bishop's stabbing, but he is yet to be charged and remains under police guard in hospital.

The attack was declared an act of terrorism by police early on Tuesday morning due to the teen's alleged religious motivation for carrying out the stabbing.