The Most Massive Object in the Universe—How Was It Created? - Facts So Romantic
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A computer simulation of the merger of two black holesNASA / CXC / A. HobartThe galaxy known prosaically as M87 doesn’t look like much. Unlike beautiful spiral galaxies (including the Milky Way), M87 appears as an orangish blob of stars through telescopes. Its only noticeable feature is the long streamer of gas emanating from the galactic center.The source of that jet is far from prosaic, however: It’s a black hole 6.6 billion times the mass of the Sun. No other known object is as massive—this black hole by itself outweighs entire star clusters and small galaxies. Even compared to other huge black holes, such as the one at the heart of the Milky Way, the monster of M87 is immense.But how did these black holes grow so massive? The simple answer: Just as big galaxies grew by colliding and (...)
