Theories about how black holes are grown inside a galaxy may
have to be modified because of a recent discovery astronomers
made using UT’s Hobby-Eberly Telescope. While working on a study
to better understand how galaxies grow and form together,
astronomers discovered a massive black hole with a size relative
to its galaxy bigger than any before. Discovered in galaxy NGC
1277, the black hole makes up 14 percent of the galaxy’s mass.
Usually, black holes make up .1 percent of a galaxy’s mass. This
black hole has the mass of 17 billion suns. This diagram shows
how the diameter of the 17-billion-solar-mass black hole in the
heart of galaxy NGC 1277 compares with the orbit of Neptune
around the Sun. The black hole is eleven times wider than
Neptune's orbit. Shown here in two dimensions, the "edge" of the
black hole is actually a sphere. This boundary is called the
"event horizon," the point from beyond which, once crossed,
neither matter nor light can return. (Credit: D. Benningfield/K.
Gebhardt/StarDate) Karl Ge