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Smallest supermassive black hole ever found

AUG 12, 2015

DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029113

Physics Today

Telegraph : The smallest supermassive black hole ever discovered in the center of a galaxy has been observed by a team of researchers at the University of Michigan. Lying at the center of the dwarf galaxy RGG 118 some 340 million light-years away, the black hole is 50 000 times as massive as our Sun and less than half the size of any other known supermassive black hole. Because its home galaxy is so small, researchers believe RGG 118 has never merged with another galaxy and may be relatively young. The black hole also appears to be quite active, consuming matter at about the same rate as other supermassive black holes. The discovery could provide clues to how black holes and the galaxies in which they reside grow and develop.

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