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Monster Black Holes May Lurk All Around Us (yahoo.com)

Taco Cowboy quotes a report from Yahoo News: Astronomers have stumbled upon a supermassive black hole in an unexpected corner of the Universe, implying these galactic monsters are much more common than once thought, a study said Wednesday. The giant, with an estimated mass 17 billion times that of our Sun, was discovered in a relative desert, astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in the journal Nature. "While finding a gigantic black hole in a massive galaxy in a crowded area of the Universe is to be expected -- like running across a skyscraper in Manhattan -- it seemed less likely they could be found in the Universe's small towns," said a university statement. Big, star-rich galaxies where supermassive black holes had previously been found, are very rare. Smaller ones like the NGC 1600 galaxy housing the newly-discovered whopper, are much more common, but were not previously thought to be appropriate host. "So the question now is: 'Is this the tip of an iceberg?'" said study co-author Chung-Pei Ma. "Maybe there are a lot more monster black holes out there that don't live in a skyscraper in Manhattan, but in a tall building somewhere in the Midwestern plains." The largest supermassive black hole spotted to date tipped the scales at about 21 billion solar masses, said the study authors.

1 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Missed the important part of the story by dave420 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    People can concentrate on more than one thing at once. You are possibly an exception, which would explain your apparent confusion. Yes, the reaction from some was over the top, but that does nothing to change the fact that someone made a stupid mistake and tarnished the image of their organisation by not being as professional as decorum would expect. And none of this has anything to do with a specific piece of research.

    I get it - you are clearly rather old (or your mentality is, or both), rather grumpy, and out of touch with the world around you. You see all this talk of people trying to be better to each other, and you realise that will never be you, so you get angry with it. Deep-down you know you are wrong, and that's where the anger comes from. So much anger. What a waste.