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davepamn

M¢25 Funded By Mahalo ? | June 23, 2009 04:15 AM

What is the biggest black hole observed?

How massive was the black hole?

Can an amateur astronomer see evidence of the black hole?

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nativenerd

June 23, 2009 04:55 AM

It's actually part of a binary system...the larger event weighs in at about the equivalent of 18 billion suns...that's 3.580056 × 10^40 kilograms!!!!

The smaller blackhole orbiting it only weighs in at 100mil times the weight of the sun...

"The biggest black hole in the universe weighs in with a respectable mass of 18 billion Suns, and is about the size of an entire galaxy."

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/05/18-billion-suns.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080109-aas-massive-black-holes.html

I doubt your going to see much with this event as an amateur...but here's where it is...
"The binary black hole system powers a quasar known as OJ287, which is located 3.5 billion light-years from us in the constellation Cancer."

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badaspie

June 23, 2009 05:55 AM

The current record-holder is a supermassive black hole in the blazar (a radio-quiet active galaxy with an axial jet aimed at Earth) OJ 287. The black hole is actually a supermassive binary, with a companion of 100 million solar masses (about 25 times the mass of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole) in a 12-year orbit around an 18-billion-solar-mass primary.

As the secondary black hole approaches the primary in its orbit and then recedes, it passes through the primary's accretion disk twice, causing a double-peaked flare in brightness every 12 years. OJ 287's average apparent magnitude is around 14 to 15, so it is visible in large amateur telescopes despite its distance of 3.5 billion light-years. During outbursts, it can become as bright as magnitude 12, making it visible through 6-inch (150-mm) telescopes. The next outburst is expected in 2016.
Source(s):
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13166-biggest-black-hole-in-the-cosmo...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OJ_287
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BL_Lac_object
http://www.astro.utu.fi/OJ287MMVI/img/OJ287opticalhistorical.gif
http://www.caha.es/18-billions-of-suns-support-einstein.html

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