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Astronomy

Black holes go extragalactic

Nature volume 449, pages 799–801 (2007)Cite this article

The mass of a black hole beyond our Galaxy has been calculated, thanks to the presence of an associated star. The hole is the weightiest yet, placing intriguing constraints on how this binary system developed.

Weighing celestial bodies is a goal of many astronomers, and it is an especially fascinating task in the case of black holes. On page 872 of this issue1, Orosz et al. announce a significant advance — they have measured the mass of a black hole lying far beyond our own Galaxy.

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Figure 1: In a galaxy quite close by.

W. PIETSCH, MPE/ESA

Figure 2: Stuffing a common envelope.

References

  1. Orosz, J. A. et al. Nature 449, 872–875 (2007).

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  2. Long, K. S., Dodorico, S., Charles, P. A. & Dopita, M. A. Astrophys. J. 246, L61–L64 (1981).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tomasz Bulik is at the Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, Al Ujazdowskie 4, PL-00-478 Warsaw, and the Copernicus Astronomical Center, Warsaw, Poland. tb@astrouw.edu.pl ,

    Tomasz Bulik

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  1. Tomasz Bulik
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Bulik, T. Black holes go extragalactic. Nature 449, 799–801 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/449799a

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