Let me show that number to you: 18,000,000,000. That’s 18 billion. This is the amount of suns the biggest black hole ever found, measures in weight and size. On a side note I’d like to mention that a more accurate name for this phenomena actually is Black Star.
They found this sucker a while ago, and to put it into easy terms: this monster is the size of a small galaxy. Believe you me, that shit is BIG – alright?
A computer generated image of the biggest Black Hole (Black Star dammit!) known to man – 18 billion suns… WHOA!!
To give you the perspective, our galaxy has around 300-400 billion stars, most of which are either pretty big or smaller than our own sun. It is believed that there is a Black Hole in the centre of our Milky Way, with “only” 100,000 sun’s weight. This Black Hole, so it is believed, is responsible for the rotation of our entire home galaxy.
Luckily, this super-sucker of 18 billion suns is 3.5 billion light years away, so Earth is pretty safe (phew!). It is the heart of a quasar conveniently named OJ287.
It is orbited by a smaller black hole, which completes an orbit every 12 years. BUT – since the big one is pulling everything toward it, the smaller one will eventually merge with the big one.
Just how big can Black Holes get? There’s no limit. The longer they are around, the bigger they are and can get bigger and bigger. Some say that eventually everything that will be left of our universe will be consumed by a hyper-sized Black Hole.
Source: Daily Galaxy – 18 billion suns
Related posts:
