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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Most Massive Black Holes Heavier Than Thought


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The giant galaxy M87 shines in a composite of visible, radio, and x-ray wavelengths in an image released in August 2008.

The supermassive black hole at the heart of M87—one of the biggest nearby black holes known—may be two to three times heavier than previously thought, astronomers said at a June 2009 meeting.

X-ray image courtesy NASA/CXC/CfA/W. Forman et al.; radio image courtesy NRAO/AUI/NSF/W. Cotton; optical image courtesy NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and R. Gendler