Dwarf galaxy yields up middle-sized black hole

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope to confirm X-ray observations first published in 2009 have turned up the first observational evidence of mid-sized black holes. That’s not as straightforward as it sounds. As Sydney University-based astronomer Dr Sean Farrell explained to The Register, the midrange black hole has …

[AndrewG]

290 Light Years Distant?

I don't think so

[AndrewG]

Re: 290 Light Years Distant?

290 MILLION Light years would be more like it

[Richard Chirgwin]

Re: Re: 290 Light Years Distant?

Thanks everybody, the word "million" has been added.

RC

[Tom Maddox]

Re: Re: 290 Light Years Distant?

I just a whole galaxy. The whole thing!

[Martin Huizing]

"Dwarf galaxy yields up middle-sized black hole "

Anything to make humankind less small and insignificant... Can't beat my ego, though ;)

[slevy]

reference appreciated

Thanks for including the reference to the original article, for those seeking more details!

[Winkypop]

Who needs the Wooooo?

When you've got Science!

[Rentaguru]

intermediate - one of those weasel words used to suggest something really baaaaad is nice n fluffy

[Anonymous Coward]

290 million Light Years so that's something like 88853545.071 Parsecs away !

if you cant get your head to imagine that then try this x 2.9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BjHvwSvpOw

Zoom 100 Million Light Years From Earth

i always find this seems to get the point across

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7geP5ev0VI

You don't even know what "big" is

tap tap testing is it working

[Ragarath]

Those are good but..

This is my favourite and it's interactive.

http://images.4channel.org/f/src/589...e_enhanced.swf

[Crisp]

To quote Douglas Adams

Space is really big.

[Bongwater]

Parsecs? That's small!

I jog 5 megaparsecs a day!

Ok I lied, I didn't.

[Anonymous Coward]

so Dr Farrell what size do you estimate/guess this intermediate black hole to be today compared to say "Betelgeuse"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiLKrDWgGYs&feature=related ;) oops i mean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIm1IujP0qk&feature=related

or even "VY Canis Majoris" Largest star ever discovered

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4iD-9GSW-0&feature=related

[DB_lanky]

What do you mean by "size"? Black holes are a technically a singularity point, so size isn't really definable! Unless you mean the event horizon? which is about 60000km for this black hole, which is pretty small compared to both stars you mentioned. In terms of mass though this black hole weighs in ~1000 times heavier than Betelgeuse and ~500 times that of VY Canis Majoris.

[Anonymous Coward]

thanks db, in this context, the mass makes far more sense to get an imaginable visual scale in your head than ~60,000 miles/96,560.64 km or so of the event horizon.