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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.

6 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. A huge hig-mass object that suck up everything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Was found in an empty space... duh!

    1. Re: A huge hig-mass object that suck up everything by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

      Black holes do *not* suck up stuff.

      Are you implying that black ho's spit?

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  2. Missed the important part of the story by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 4, Funny

    it seemed less likely they could be found in the Universe's small towns," said a university statement

    Well that's great and all, but it misses the most important point of this entire story - what kind of shirt was the spokesman wearing when he released the statement? We already know, from empirical experience, that this fashion statement overshadows anything that might have been said or any legitimate human achievement that may have occurred. Up to and including announcing that HUMANITY LANDED A SPACE PROBE ON A GODDAMNED COMET.

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  3. Just great. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Monster Black Holes May Lurk All Around Us

    I thought I only had to watch out for their over-priced HDMI cables.

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  4. Re:Dark matter ? by Tyr07 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Black matter matters?

  5. I can verify this. by Shadyman · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can verify. There is a giant one in my wallet. I put money in... aaaaaand it's gone.