Clocking the rotation rate of a supermassive black hole
Thursday, March 10, 2016 - 13:30
in Astronomy & Space
The rotational rate of one of the most massive black holes in the universe has been accurately measured by an international team of astronomers, using several optical telescopes and NASA's SWIFT X-ray telescope. The rotational rate of this massive black hole is one third of the maximum spin rate allowed in General Relativity. This 18 billion solar mass heavy black hole powers a quasar OJ287 which lies about 3.5 billion light years away from Earth.