Black Hole Found That Takes Up 14% of Its Galaxy's Mass

An anonymous reader sent word that astronomers have discovered an absolutely enormous black hole residing in a galaxy that seems too small for it. In a new study (PDF), researchers looked at galaxy NGC 1277 and found that its central black hole weighed in at roughly 17 billion solar masses. Quoting Phil Plait: "The problem is, that?s far more massive than the central bulge of NGC 1277 would suggest the black hole should be. It?s well over half the total mass of the bulge! In fact, the entire mass of the galaxy is about 120 billion solar masses, which means the black hole at its heart is 14 percent of the total galaxy?s mass; compare that to the Milky Way?s black hole mass of 0.01 percent and you?ll see why astronomers were shocked."

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/oWoC0mHXOx0/story01.htm

barney frank barney frank kim richards robert hegyes mary louise parker mary louise parker cher