Black Holes Discovered 10 Billion Times Larger Than Our
Sun
The news, released by the Nature Journal indicate that the two black holes are the largest discovered to date. They are believed to measure 9.7 billion times the size of our sun and could in fact be even larger, with reports of measurements up to 37 billion times greater than our sun. The largest black hole previously discovered measured 6.7 billion times the size of our sun.
Sun
Two new black holes have been discovered. The two black holes, located only 300 million light years from Earth, are considered close in astronomical terms.
The news, released by the Nature Journal indicate that the two black holes are the largest discovered to date. They are believed to measure 9.7 billion times the size of our sun and could in fact be even larger, with reports of measurements up to 37 billion times greater than our sun. The largest black hole previously discovered measured 6.7 billion times the size of our sun.
Black holes are formed when a super-size star collapses and is fed by surrounding gases and stars. Black holes are characterized by their incredible gravitational pull.
The discovery was in part made possible by use of data from the Keck II and Gemini North telescopes that sit atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea and the NASA Hubble telescope. The high resolution imaging of these telescopes assisted the University of Berkeley scientists in their research. Remarked astrophysicist Chung-Pei Ma, who led the group's research, "this type of analysis required high resolution imaging which was not available just a few years ago."
Ma and his team are hoping that the information they will garner from studying these black holes will help scientists understand how black holes can grow so large and how they were formed.
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