Black holes · Supermassive black hole
M87*
53 million light-years · Light crosses it in 36 hours
- Across
- 38.4 billion km
- Vs Earth
- 257 AU across
- Mass
- 6.5 billion Suns
About
M87* was the first black hole ever photographed. In 2019 a network of radio telescopes spanning the planet produced the now-famous orange ring — the shadow of an object 6.5 billion times the Sun's mass, 53 million light-years away.
The first black hole ever photographed, in 2019.
At a glance
| Mass | 6.5 billion Suns |
|---|---|
| Distance | 53 million light-years |
| Jet | 5,000 light-years long |
| Imaged | 2019 |
Did you know
- Its event horizon is wider than our entire Solar System, including the Kuiper Belt.
- A jet of plasma blasts out of it at nearly the speed of light and is visible in ordinary telescopes.
- The image needed so much data that the hard drives were flown, not transmitted, to be combined.
Simulations
- A star torn apart — How a black hole shreds a star that strays too close, and lights up a galaxy's heart
- Wormhole — A tunnel through space: how one could be held open, and what it would look like