LRG3-757, shown in this Hubble Space Telescope image, is remarkable enough for being so massive that it creates a gravitational lens on its own that bends a more distant bluish galaxy nearly all the way around into an Einstein Ring. Now we know why: Scientists have uncovered an ultra massive black hole at its center with a mass 36 billion times that of our Sun or 9000 times the mass of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
https://i.redd.it/w2vkfnj6v7if1.jpeg
3 Comments
Wonder why astronomers don’t use terms like megasol, gigasol, terrasol, etc, instead of “36 billion solar masses”?
Now *that* is down right amazing, interesting, & terrifying.
I can’t even conceive of 36 billion solar masses. Let alone all that being compressed into whatever size the black hole is. Question: does it make sense to talk about black holes in terms of size, ie their physical dimensions? Do they have depth or just height and width?