Black hole big enough to swallow solar system
January 16th, 2011 - 4:49 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Jan 16 (IANS) This black hole is large enough to swallow our entire solar system and weighs as much as 6.8 billion suns.The M87 black hole is the largest such phenomenon identified so far. Previous estimates had it as only three billion times the weight of the sun.
Scientists used a specially adapted telescope in Hawaii to observe it and discovered that it was more than twice as heavy as had been previously thought, catapulting it into the record books.
It was observed in M87, by far the largest and most distant galaxy in the nearby universe, some 50 million light years away, the Daily Mail reported.
The researchers said it may have formed as a result of hundreds of smaller black holes merging into one at some point in the past, according to a University of Texas statement.
As a point of comparison, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is 1,000 times smaller.
Astronomer Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas in Austin, US said: “It (M87) could swallow our solar system whole.”
- Black hole at centre of galaxy twice as big as originally thought - Aug 24, 2009
- Radio telescopes to try taking first photo of black hole - Jan 16, 2012
- Black hole discovered to be 3 times more massive than previously thought - Jun 09, 2009
- Astronomers stumble on massive black holes - Dec 07, 2011
- Black holes gobble up stars to grow bigger - Apr 03, 2012
- Era of first fast growth of the most massive black holes determined - Dec 28, 2010
- Scientists zoom in on infant solar system - Jun 12, 2010
- Milky Way's smallest black holes 'don't exist' - Nov 22, 2010
- Boffins uncover most powerful pair of jets ever seen from a black hole - Jul 08, 2010
- India to build world's largest solar telescope - Sep 02, 2010
- Astronomers find supermassive black holes - Sep 01, 2011
- NASA telescopes discover most distant galaxy cluster - Jan 13, 2011
- Cold streams of gas pushed huge growth in black holes - Dec 14, 2011
- Astronomers discover earliest ever black holes - Jun 16, 2011
- Hubble discovers hyperfast star hailing from Milky Way's core - Jul 23, 2010
Tags: 50 million, astronomer, black hole, black holes, daily mail, distant galaxy, estimates, karl gebhardt, london jan, milky way, million light years, nearby universe, phenomenon, record books, solar system, suns, telescope, university of texas, university of texas in austin, weight of the sun