Astronomers Measure Largest Black Hole As 18 Billion Times Bigger Than Sun

January 10, 2008 8:33 p.m. EST

Austin, TX (AHN) - Astronomers have measured the largest black hole as 18 billion times bigger than the sun.

The astronomers led by Mauri Valtonen of Tuorla Observatory in Finland presented the measurement of the black hole located at a quasar known as OJ287 on Wednesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas.

The quasar, A quasar, an extremely bright object in which matter spiralling into a giant black hole emits copious amounts of radiation, is 3.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Cancer.

In 1994, astronomers using the Hubble space telescope found a black hole three billion times bigger than the sun in the galaxy named M87 located 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.

According to Valtonen's team, which included astronomers from other countries, OJ287 contains another small black hole that allowed them to measure the larger one.

The smaller black hole weighs about 100 million Suns and orbits the larger one on an oval-shaped path every 12 years. By analyzing the orbit of the smaller hole and the outbursts of light that occur when it comes closer to the disc of matter surrounding the larger black hole, the astronomers determined the size of the latter.

Tod Strohmayer of National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland said further study is needed to confirm the accuracy of Valtonen team's measurement.