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Largest Black Hole Measured

Posted by kdawson on from the that's-no-moon dept.

porkpickle tips us to a BBC article on the quasar OJ287, a binary object containing largest black hole yet discovered, weighing in at 18 billion times the mass of Sol. Researchers were able to estimate its mass due to the presence of a smaller black hole in orbit around it. When the smaller companion's orbit intersects OJ287's accretion disk, once every 12 years, it triggers a burst of radiation that was detected by the Spitzer Space Telescope. More detail and a diagram are available on the Turku University site.

7 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Wow. by AltGrendel · · Score: 4, Funny
    A binary black hole system.

    Proctologists across the globe swoon!

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  2. Ask slashdot by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Is there a theoretical limit to the size of a black hole?

    That was serious, here's the link to the non-serious.

    A Black hole is an impossible object which makes the Universe work. It has the useful property of being "undetectable". It's like when your spouse comes home with a dent in the car, and blames it on an invisible black mass; the dent is proof of the black mass, but you can't, and never will be able to see it with CCTV cameras, but you know it's there. "Dark matter" is an equally undetectable force that causes cars to defy gravity, and hit invisible black holes. Astronomers will tell you that lots of them have spouses with dents in their cars, and can explain this is very technical terms, so you won't be able to understand why it's not possible.
    More there...
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  3. Need a better measurement comparison by vjmurphy · · Score: 4, Funny

    "largest black hole yet discovered, weighing in at 18 billion times the mass of Sol."

    Yes, but how many Twinkies is that?

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    1. Re:Need a better measurement comparison by wizardforce · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, but how many Twinkies is that?
      heh.. just for the heck of it: mass of twinkie: ~35 grams, mass of sun =2*10^30 kg, mass of blackhole: 18*10^9 sol therefore, 18*10^9*2*10^30/35g*1000g/kg~= 10^42 twinkies.
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    2. Re:Need a better measurement comparison by networkBoy · · Score: 3, Funny

      You know, somehow that 42 is the exponent for number of twinkies in a black hole makes me worry about life, the universe, and everything....
      -nB

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  4. And so... by Cleon · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think this finally means that we have a definition for the SI unit "fuck-ton."

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  5. Re:that's a lot by HAKdragon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hawking: Homer, your theory of a donut shaped universe intrigues me

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