Here is how big the black hole M87 is compared to the Earth



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Pale black point

On Wednesday, a team of scientists from around the world released the first ever observed image of the black hole event horizon.

The black hole, M87 *, is in the constellation Virgo – and as webcomic XKCD illustrated, it is as big as our entire solar system.

Stellar giant

The gigantic black hole, not counting the giant rings of trapped light that surrounds it, is about 23.6 billion miles (38 billion kilometers) wide, according to Scientific news.

The Earth has a diameter of 7,917 miles, which means that our planet would not even be a drop in the giant's bucket, the black void. According to futuristic calculations, it would take a little over 2.98 million lands aligned to cover the length of M87 *. In terms of scale, this is about the number of adult giraffes needed to cover the Earth's diameter.

Search for Pluto

Our solar system as a whole has a width of about 2.27 billion miles, which means that we could just adapt it to all events of the new black hole horizon.

Fortunately, the M87 * is about 55 million light years away. Thus, even if we can slip easily into his gaping mouth, we are far too far to let ourselves be dragged along.

READ MORE: Revealed: a black hole the size of the solar system[[[[Cosmos]

More on M87 *: Scientists: a complete black image will be clearer

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