Smallest Black Hole Found

w1z4rd

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
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NASA scientists have identified the smallest, lightest black hole yet found.

The new lightweight record-holder weighs in at about 3.8 times the mass of our sun and is only 15 miles (24 kilometers) in diameter.

"This black hole is really pushing the limits," said study team leader Nikolai Shaposhnikov of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "For many years astronomers have wanted to know the smallest possible size of a black hole, and this little guy is a big step toward answering that question."

The low-mass black hole sits in a binary system in our galaxy known as XTE J1650-500 in the southern hemisphere constellation Ara. NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite discovered the system in 2001, and astronomers soon realized that the system harbored a relatively lightweight black hole. But the black hole's mass had never been precisely measured.
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http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080401-smallest-blackhole.html
 
Don't these "evaporate" quickly? Or is my (bad)science far behind the times?
 
Black holes are fascinating. There is a blackhole a million times the mass of our sun in the Andromeda galaxy(the closest galaxy to us, which is twice the size of our galaxy). Scientists have discovered that at the centre of each galaxy there is a blackhole.
 
mercurial said:
Black holes are fascinating. There is a blackhole a million times the mass of our sun in the Andromeda galaxy(the closest galaxy to us, which is twice the size of our galaxy). Scientists have discovered that at the centre of each galaxy there is a blackhole.
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Yeah, that the one that causes kuk in my horoscope.
 
I still think that those astronomers are talking BS when they say they can calculate the size and mass of faraway objects.
 
Picard said:
I still think that those astronomers are talking BS when they say they can calculate the size and mass of faraway objects.
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... and I guess thats why they work in the industry and you do not.
 
Picard said:
Thank goodness for that. I'd hate to speak BS all day long. :D
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ja nee.... your statement reminds me of what ol Abe Lincon once said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
 
black hole = what you see when Poison Ivy bends over to pick up the soap :D
 
I have watched most of Carl Sagan's programs and have read Stephan Hawkings' book and another book written about him. I've read practically everthing I can about this subject. My username is (Capt.) Picard for crying out loud.

Make no mistake about the seriousness of my interest.

My comment (even though filppant) is just based on the lack of faith I have in the equipment we have at the moment to make such claims.
 
Picard said:
I have watched most of Carl Sagan's programs and have read Stephan Hawkings' book and another book written about him. I've read practically everthing I can about this subject. My username is (Capt.) Picard for crying out loud.

Make no mistake about the seriousness of my interest.

My comment (even though filppant) is just based on the lack of faith I have in the equipment we have at the moment to make such claims.
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I noticed. What's wrong with Denny Crane? :)

You're right and wrong there, we won't know everything in our lifetime.
Theories get changed.

In the new version of Cosmos, Carl mentions a few things they got wrong.
Since then, a few more were proved wrong.
 
butc8 said:
How bout a black hole in you back yard......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
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Concerns have been raised that performing collisions at previously unexplored energies might unleash new and disastrous phenomena. These include the production of micro black holes, and strangelets. Such issues were raised in connection with the RHIC accelerator, both in the media[14][15] and in the scientific community;[16] however, after detailed studies, scientists reached such conclusions as "beyond reasonable doubt, heavy-ion experiments at RHIC will not endanger our planet"[17] and that there is "powerful empirical evidence against the possibility of dangerous strangelet production."[18]
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:cool:
 
i'm sure scientists don't just make up BS all day - just because you can't understand it doesn't mean it don't exist.

"I don't believe there exists light which I cannot see" err....infra red?

If mass can be created out of nothing, then surely it can be sucked into nothing.
 
Contrary to popular belief there is a black hole here on earth...
Its called Africa.
 
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