A recent study found that the first black hole ever discovered is much larger than scientists initially thought.
Black holes are extremely massive objects in space whose gravity is so powerful that even light cannot escape. The black hole, Cygnus X-1, was discovered in 1964. It is known to be the object of a friend. effort between two famous scientists.
Researchers found that new observations of Cygnus X-1 showed it to be 21 times the mass of our sun. That’s about 50 percent heavier than scientists thought.
While it is still one of the closest known black holes, the scientists found it to be further away than previous estimates suggested. It is 7200 light years away. A light year is the distance that light travels in a year.
Some black holes, such as those in the center of the Milky Way, are extremely large. These are called “supermassive” black holes. They can be millions of times more massive than the sun. Smaller black holes are called black holes with a “stellar mass”. They have the mass of a single star.
Cygnus X-1 is the Milky Way’s largest known black hole. It’s one of the strongest X-rays sources seen from Earth, said James Miller-Jones of Curtin University and the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia. Miller-Jones led the study that appeared in the publication Science
Cygnus X-1 is spinning so fast that it is close to the fastest speed predicted under physicist Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, Miller-Jones added.
The black hole brings in material from the surface of the star it orbits. This star is a “blue supergiant”, a very large star about 40 times the mass of our sun.
Cygnus X-1 began to exist 4 million to 5 million years ago as a star 75 times more massive than the sun. But then it collapsed into a black hole several tens of thousands of years ago.
The study included data from the Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope. It consists 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 the object was a black hole, while Thorne bet it was one. Hawking finally admitted that the evidence suggested that Cygnus X-1 was a black hole.
Miller-Jones, the leader of the recent study, said, “Indeed, I had no bets on these findings.”
I am John Russell.
Will Dunham reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it to teach English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.
Words in this story
effort – n. an agreement in which people try to guess what will happen and the person who guesses wrong must give something (such as money) to the person who guesses right; a bet
source – n. the place where something starts
bet – n. an agreement in which people try to guess what will happen and the person who guesses wrong must give something (such as money) to the person who guesses right; a bet