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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. Sol by errxn · · Score: 0, Troll

    ...otherwise known as *the Sun*. I mean, can we get just a little more pretentious?

    --
    In Soviet Russia, Chuck Norris will still kick your ass.