Scientists recently found a black hole so big that theory strains explain it, a new study reports.
A Chinese-led team discovered a stellar-mass black hole that appears to be 68 times heftier than Earth's sun — nearly three times bigger than the heaviest such objects should be, according to current thinking.
Video: Giant Black Hole Discovery Defies Theories
More: Images: Black Holes of the Universe
In case you are keeping track:
Black hole: Astronomers discover massive black hole that "should not even exist"
In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Chinese astronomers detail their discovery of a black hole, dubbed LB-1, in the Milky Way with a mass of about 70 times that of the sun. Previously, scientists believed they could only be about 20 times the mass of the sun.
A research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences used the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) to search for signs of LB-1.
Using LAMOST, the team found stars moving across the sky, seemingly orbiting an invisible object. Follow-up observations with telescopes in Spain and the U.S. led to the discovery of a star about eight times larger than the sun orbiting the black hole every 79 days. The massive star was orbiting a "dark companion" located 15 thousand light-years from Earth.
Black hole or newborn stars? SOFIA finds galactic puzzle
Black holes are inherently strange, with gravitational forces so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. As active black holes consume gas and dust, some of that material is instead launched outward as jets of high-energy particles and radiation. Usually these jets are perpendicular to the host galaxy , but NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, found one that is shooting directly into its galaxy.
That jet is heating up gas around the galaxy's center in a way that's characteristic of stars being born. This is prompting scientists to reevaluate their ideas about a key gas associated with baby stars, and about how black holes affect their host galaxies generally.
Scientists: Ominous Black Hole Is Way Too Big to Exist
That's more than three times the presumed upper limit of 20 solar masses that astrophysicists believed a black hole in our galaxy could be, setting up a scientific race to explain the existence of the cosmic monster.
"Black holes of such mass should not even exist in our Galaxy, according to most of the current models of stellar evolution," lead researcher LIU Jifeng of the National Astronomical Observatory of China of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a statement .
Other things to check out:
What Happens When a Black Hole Eats a Star [Video]
In this new video, Melissa Hoffman of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory takes us on a tour of one of the most disruptive events in Universe: a black hole ripping apart a nearby star.
Using radio and infrared telescopes, including the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), in 2018 an international team of astronomers witnessed this event in a pair of colliding galaxies called Arp 299.
Read Astronomers Directly Image a Black Hole Ripping Apart a Star to learn more about this finding.
'Imiloa hosts presentation on Powehi black hole - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Earlier this year, groundbreaking news of the Event Horizon Telescope’s research garnered media’s attention locally, nationally and internationally. EHT’s capturing of the first ever image of a black hole, named Powehi, has led to researchers to the next level of research.
Come and join in an enlightening presentation by Dr. Ziri Younsi and Dr. Junhan Kim on black hole research and findings from a collaborative experiment through the Event Horizon Telescope at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center’s planetarium. Cost is $8 for members and $10 for non-members. To purchase tickets, please call 932-8901.
DHS 'black hole' complicates health care for immigrants - POLITICO
— Data privacy hearing on tap: Senate Commerce considers dueling data privacy bills this week, with Republicans and Democrats sparring over the proper scope of regulation.
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The patient often says 'look up my information in the computer' but we can't because the computers don't share data."
DHS agencies have different policies, and their software doesn't seem to consistently transmit patient information, according to immigration advocates. Physicians who work with the records say it's almost impossible to glean clear understandings of a patient's condition from them.
With prime minister out, Iraq in constitutional 'black hole'
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's parliament on Sunday formally accepted the prime minister's resignation, but the path to replacing Adil Abdul-Mahdi was clouded with legal questions that one lawmaker described as a "black hole in the constitution," which does not clearly spell out the next step.
Parliament approved the resignation without a vote, according to four lawmakers in attendance. Lawmakers acted on the legal opinion of the federal supreme court because existing laws do not provide clear procedures.
Happening on Twitter
This Newfound Monster Black Hole Is Too Big for Theories to Handle (via @SPACEdotcom) https://t.co/etrJGY8PSs AlbertEinstein Mon Dec 02 19:48:42 +0000 2019
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