“For many years astronomers have wanted to know the smallest possible size of a black hole, and this little guy is a big step toward answering that question.”
Scientists have discovered a comparitively miniscule black hole, only 15 km in diameter. They were not sure previously that such a small black hole could exist. The black hole “nicknamed” XTE J1650-500, weighs in at a mass of 3.8 of our suns. Astronomers know that some unknown threshold, between 1.7 and 2.7 solar masses, marks the boundary between a star that generates a black hole upon its death and one that produces a neutron star. Interaction with XTE J1650-500′s “companion star” is one of the ways it’s size was determined. Other surrounding activity, including X-rays, helped scientists to identify the black hole.
This is an important discovery because the physics of black holes are still such a mystery to science. They weren’t even sure such a black hole could exist before this, and because of thie black hole’s size many inferences can be drawn and data can be cross referenced and analyzed. I was interesed in this article because it explained a little about how they measure black holes.
Why do people name stars or black holes such stupid names like XTE J1650-500. Why can’t thay just name it black hole #1 or something simple. To tell the truth I thought that black holes were fake. I thought that black holes were only in movies or tv shows like ‘Star Trek’.
In the article they said that the black hole weighs in at a mass of 3.8 of our suns. Isn’t this space, how can something weigh 3.8 of nothing .
I’m not sure XTE J1650-500 is a name… It is more likely a catalog number. The XTE is probably from ‘X-Ray Timing Explorer’, the orbiting NASA probe that discovered it. There are so many objects in the universe, only a small fraction are ever named.
As for the mass vs. weight… The writer did put “weigh” in quotes–showing that perhaps they understood the distinction between weight and mass–like all good physics students…right?