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A recent study found that the first black hole ever discovered is much larger than scientists initially thought.
Black holes are extremely massive space objects whose gravity is so powerful that even light does not escape. The black hole, Cygnus X-1, was discovered in 1964. It is well known to have been the subject of a bet between two famous scientists.
The researchers found that new observations of Cygnus X-1 showed it to be 21 times the mass of our sun. It’s about 50% more massive than scientists had thought.
Although it is still one of the closest known black holes, scientists have found it to be further away than previous estimates had suggested. It is 7,200 light years away. A light year is the distance traveled by light in a year.
Some black holes, like the one in the center of the Milky Way, are extremely large. They are called “supermassive” black holes. They can be millions of times more massive than the sun. Smaller black holes are called “stellar mass” black holes. They have the mass of a single star.
Cygnus X-1 is the largest stellar mass black hole known to the Milky Way. It is among the most powerful X-rays sources seen from Earth, said James Miller-Jones of Curtin University and the International Radio Astronomical Research Center in Australia. Miller-Jones led the study that appeared in the publication Science.
Cygnus X-1 spins so quickly that it is approaching the highest rate predicted by physicist Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, Miller-Jones added.
The black hole brings in matter from the surface of the star on which it orbits. This star is a “super blue giant”, a very large star about 40 times the mass of our sun.
Cygnus X-1 began to exist 4-5 million years ago as a star up to 75 times the size of the sun. But then it collapsed into a black hole a few tens of thousands of years ago.
The research included data from the Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope. It is made up of 10 observation stations in the United States.
After Cygnus X-1 was first identified as a possible black hole, a friendly bet was made between two physicists, Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne. Hawking bet against the object being a black hole, while Thorne bet it was. Hawking eventually admitted that the evidence suggested Cygnus X-1 was a black hole.
Miller-Jones, the head of the recent study, said: “Indeed, I had no bet on these results.”
I am John Russell.
Will Dunham reported this story to Reuters. John Russell adapted it to learn English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. _____________________________________________________________
Words in this story
bet – not. a deal in which people try to guess what’s going to happen and the wrong guesser has to give something (like money) to the right guesser; a bet
source – not. the place where something begins
bet – not. a deal in which people try to guess what’s going to happen and the wrong guesser has to give something (like money) to the right guesser; a bet
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