By Clare Tweedy
The second largest black hole ever has been recorded in a galaxy a quarter the size of our own. Large galaxies usually have a supermassive black hole at the centre, and typically its size should reflect the size of the galaxy it is found in. However, the black hole found at the centre of galaxy NGC 1277 has a mass seventeen billion times larger than our Sun. The team, from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, also described five other galaxies of a similar size to NGC 1277. It is anticipated that these may also contain an extremely dense black hole. This peculiar discovery may force scientists to rethink their current explanations for how black holes form and expand.
No comments:
Post a Comment