jeudi 3 mars 2016

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NASA Just Discovered 1 of the Biggest Black Holes Ever - See the Incredible GIFs

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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recently discovered one of the most massive black holes ever. Don't fret, though - it's nowhere near us so it won't be sucking you or me into its depths.

Located in Galaxy NGC 4889, which is around 300 million light years away, this black hole is 21 billion times larger than the sun. The black hole's event horizon, which the Hubble Space Telescope website defines as "the surface at which even light cannot escape its gravitational grasp," has a diameter of 130 billion kilometers.

Let's put those numbers into perspective, shall we? In our galaxy, the Milky Way's largest black hole is only 4 million times the mass of the sun, according to the Hubble Space Telescope website - meaning it doesn't come anywhere close to the one in Galaxy NGC 4889.

Image Source: MGM

This black hole is also currently taking a pretty well-deserved nap. It's dormant as of now and it remains unclear when exactly it will come alive again. When it was active, an accretion disc constantly fed the black hole space items like gas and dust to give it immense energy. Yum.

Check out photos, GIFs, and videos of the black hole ahead. Take note these aren't exact photos of the black hole, since its event horizon prevents any light from escaping. These are, however, photos and videos that reveal the area in which the black hole lives. By observing how fast stars were moving (the velocity) in this area, astronomers were able to determine the very existence of the black hole. Get ready to be amazed and then check out equally incredible GIFs of Saturn and black holes merging.



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