Researchers have discovered a 'monster black hole'
- 4 years ago
SPACE — Researchers have discovered a massive black hole 15,000 light years from Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Professor Liu Jinfeng at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a press release that the stellar black hole named LB-1 is so large that "it should not even exist in our galaxy."
According to the international research team, the "monster black hole" has a mass that is 70 times greater than the mass of the sun.
The discovery comes as a surprise as scientists had previously estimated the mass of most stellar black holes in our galaxy at less than 20 times the sun's mass.
Scientists spotted LB-1 by looking for stars that circle a black hole. LB-1's companion has eight times the mass of the sun and circles the black hole every 79 days.
The international team credits China's Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope for making the discovery.
The Gran Telescopio Canarias in Spain and the Keck I telescope in the U.S. then determined the physical parameters of LB-1 and its companion star.
Professor Liu Jinfeng at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a press release that the stellar black hole named LB-1 is so large that "it should not even exist in our galaxy."
According to the international research team, the "monster black hole" has a mass that is 70 times greater than the mass of the sun.
The discovery comes as a surprise as scientists had previously estimated the mass of most stellar black holes in our galaxy at less than 20 times the sun's mass.
Scientists spotted LB-1 by looking for stars that circle a black hole. LB-1's companion has eight times the mass of the sun and circles the black hole every 79 days.
The international team credits China's Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope for making the discovery.
The Gran Telescopio Canarias in Spain and the Keck I telescope in the U.S. then determined the physical parameters of LB-1 and its companion star.