Scientists find monster black holes, biggest yet (10 billion times the size of our sun)

Yahoo ^ | 12/5/11 | AP

[17th Miss Regt]

Mass. IIRC the radius (event horizon) of a black hole is a linear function of its mass. The radius of a black hole this massive would be about 30 billion kilometers. The solar system would fit quite comfortably inside this volume.

[txroadkill]

That’s racist.

I'm wondering if anybody outside of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area will get that.

[Hodar]

Just one question ...

Are me moving away from this, or towards it?

[From The Deer Stand]

Wow! My whole life has changed. (yawn)

[dfwgator]

I'm wondering if anybody outside of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area will get that.

Probably not.

[NativeSon]

Not having read the article (of course), I wonder if this discovery and the soon to follow other similar finds will cause scientists to rethink the idea of "missing matter" ?

If I understand it correctly, dark matter was put out there because there is according to observations/calculations, a far amount of mass not there that should be.

[Skooz]

BFL

[DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis]

Who knows. For those that don't get it, they can see this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2532821/posts?vm=r

[aft_lizard]

By mass...a black hole is a singularity which means the blackhole itself doesn’t really take up much space at all..however! It’s gravity well would be huge.

[Mister Da]

It looks like numerous other worlds have tried Liberalism with predictable consequences - they are now Black Holes.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Diversity in space!

[SunTzuWu]

Mass. IIRC the radius (event horizon) of a black hole is a linear function of its mass. The radius of a black hole this massive would be about 30 billion kilometers.

You are correct in saying that black holes are measured by their mass not their volume. Black holes can have a measurable circumference but the radius, (and therefore the diameter) is infinite.

[SunTzuWu]

Nobody has seen a black hole...Just another example of how Big Science now legislates hypotheses and theories into “Laws” when nobody’s looking.

You are half right. It is true, nobody has seen a black hole. The behavior of objects around it tell us it's mass and therefore gravity. All else is down to math. If you are doubting the math then I urge you to stop balancing your checkbook. Yes, the laws of math that say 2+2=4 are the same as the laws of math that describe high energy physics and they are provable.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks gargoyle. This is an ‘extra, extra’ ping to the APoD list.

[17th Miss Regt]

Black holes can have a measurable circumference but the radius, (and therefore the diameter) is infinite.

If the radius and diameter are infinite then so is the circumference.

The "radius" of a black hole is generally reckoned as the event horizon. That is finite. If it were infinite the entire observable universe would fit into each and every black hole. The gravitational field extends infinitely in all directions.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks gargoyle.

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks gargoyle. A triple-list pingworthy topic, nice job!

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Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

[left that other site]

DON’T go anywhere NEAR that!

[Doc Savage]

Black holes do NOT exist within a vacuum. They exist for a purpose, Probably NOT solely for the purpose of gorging on galactic mass, but I suspect they have a far more intrinsic purpose based on the beginning (or re-beginning) of the known (or unknown) universe or universes. Something is missing in this equation and I suspect physicists will at some point begin to elucidate it. None of us will be here though.

[JaguarXKE]

I’m ashamed of myself for the first thought that popped into my head! Nope, not gonna say it, not gonna go there!