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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.

1 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. /Homer by ByOhTek · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    mmmmm. Donut.

    --
    Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).