AkaSci, to random
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Let's celebrate Black Hole Week 🔭
This animation from NASA shows the scale of 10 supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their event horizons.

The smallest one shown is 1601+3113, a dwarf galaxy with a black hole at 100K solar masses.

The largest one is TON 618, an extremely distant and SMBH at ~40 billion solar masses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU1DsipURcM

Check out https://twitter.com/NASAUniverse and https://twitter.com/ehtelescope for posts on black holes all week.
Also click on for posts on Mastodon.
1/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

Here is a graphic comparing the sizes of four of the well-known Super Massive Black Holes (SMBHs), in relationship to the size of the solar system

Sgr A*, the SMBH at the center of our galaxy and the SMBH in galaxy M87 have both been imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT); their images are used as background in the graphic below. The image of M87 is also used in the graphic for the Andromeda galaxy and for TON 618, the most massive SMBH observed to date.


2/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

NASA states the mass of TON 618 as 60+ billion solar masses, which I think is based on an earlier estimate. Newer estimates put the mass at 40 billion solar masses.

The theoretical limit for SMBHs is stated as 50 billion solar masses.
Under certain unlikely conditions, they can grow to 270 billion solar masses.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/nasa-animation-sizes-up-the-universe-s-biggest-black-holes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TON_618
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermassive_black_hole#Maximum_mass_limit

3/n

AkaSci, (edited )
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

The smallest known black hole, V723 Mon, nicknamed "The Unicorn" clocks in at just 3 solar masses. Discovered in 2021, it is also the closest black hole, located 1,500 ly from Earth. EH diameter < 18 km.

Follow-up work in 2022 argued that V723 Monocerotis does not contain a black hole, but is a mass-transfer binary containing a red giant and a subgiant star that has been stripped of much of its mass.

https://twitter.com/j_tharindu/status/1384948741954805769
https://news.osu.edu/black-hole-is-closest-to-earth-among-the-smallest-ever-discovered/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V723_Monocerotis


4/n

AkaSci,
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

The paper titled "Unicorns and Giraffes in the binary zoo: stripped giants with subgiant companions", explains, based on new observations, why V723 Mon is not a black hole.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.06348

There are a few other small black holes in the 3 to 10 solar mass range, listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolman%E2%80%93Oppenheimer%E2%80%93Volkoff_limit#List_of_least_massive_black_holes

Shown below is an artist's impression of XTE J1650-500, a binary system containing a black hole with 5 - 10 solar masses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XTE_J1650-500

5/n

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

So what kinds of black holes are actually out there?

spacetelescope, to space
@spacetelescope@astrodon.social avatar

Look closely at this spiral galaxy to spot a circled, blue dot. It marks the location of what could be a black hole weighing 20,000 Suns. Its color is the result of light from both an accretion disk and a surrounding cluster of young stars: https://bit.ly/3A9mFSb

CosmicPenguin, to random Chinese

RT @NASAHubble
Welcome to !

To celebrate, Hubble has new images to share featuring active galactic nuclei, or AGNs. Some galaxies contain AGNs, which are extremely bright central regions that host a supermassive black hole!

First up, feast your eyes on NGC 3489 ⬇️

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