"Monster" Size Black Hole Found By Chinese Scientists Baffles Science Community

BYArielle London14.1K Views
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Black hole
It may be far away but...yikes.

There are some things in science that you don't want to find out exist...and this is one of them. According to CNN, Chinese scientists have discovered a "monster" black hole that is simply so large it shouldn't even be in existence. The hole is called LB-1 and is 70 times greater than our sun in mass, which is an astounding discovery since it was previously believed that black holes could only have a mass of 20 times our sun. The stellar-black hole, which is the type that is created after stars "die, collapse, and explode," is located 15,000 lightyears away.

The head of the team that found LB-1 Liu Jifeng said, "Black holes of such mass should not even exist in our galaxy, according to most of the current models of stellar evolution." He added, "LB-1 is twice as massive as what we thought possible. Now theorists will have to take up the challenge of explaining its formation." 

Scientists are uncertain as to how this hole came about but theories have been put forward. One is that it was not just the collapse of one star that created the hole but that LB-1 is two black holes orbiting one another. The other theory that has been considered is that the black hole was created from a "fallback supernova." This type of supernova, which is in the last stage of an exploding star, creates a black hole after it "ejects material during the explosion" and "falls back into the supernova."

The "monster" black hole LB-1 is not the largest black hole ever discovered but is possibly the largest of its type. 


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