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Consider the case of a family of planets in orbit around a star. The orbital speed of each planet depends on the mass of the star and the distance of the planet from the star (presuming that the mass of the planet is negligible in comparison to that of the star). This means that if you know the speed of a planet in orbit, and you know its distance from the star, you can compute the mass of the star.
Now consider an active supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy. The black hole is "active" because there is matter swirling around it, being heated as it is compressed, and thus radiating light (much of it as x-rays).
We can measure the speed of the material orbiting the black hole by measuring differences in the frequency of the light as the material orbits away from us on one side of the black hole and toward us on the other side. If we have a good idea of the distance to the black hole from Earth, we can calculate the distance of the material from the black hole.
So we know the orbital speed of the material and we know its distance from the black hole. It is then easy to calculate how massive the black hole must be.
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What is located in the middle of our galaxy?
A supermassive black hole - with the mass of about 4,000,000 Suns.
What is an intermediate black hole?
An intermediate-mass black hole is one that has a mass somewhere between 100 and a million solar masses, i.e., larger than the stellar black holes, but smaller than the supermassive black holes. It seems likely that such holes should exist, but the observational evidence is not yet very firm.An intermediate black hole is one whose mass is somewhere between that of a stellar black hole (a few times the mass of the Sun), and that of a supermassive, or galactic, black hole (millions or billions of times the mass of the Sun).
What is a super-massive black hole?
A supermassive black hole is a black hole with a very large mass, millions to billions times the mass of the sun. The supermassive black hole in our galaxy is about 4 million times the mass of the sun.
Are there any black holes in your galaxy?
Yes. There is a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy and a number of stellar mass black holes through the rest of it.
How do astronomers measure the mass of a supermassive black hole?
By observing the movement of nearby objects. The gravity of the black hole will accelerate such an object according to Newton's Second Law (F=ma). More specifically, the details of the orbit of a star that moves around the black hole will vary, depending on the black hole's mass.
How are supermassive black holes different from stellar mass black holes?
In their mass. a "stellar black hole" has a few solar masses (a few times the mass of our Sun), while a supermassive black hole (found in the center of most galaxies) typically has a mass of millions or billions times the mass of our Sun.
What is bigger a quasar or a supermassive black hole?
The quasar is bigger. A quasar is a disk of superheated matter that surrounds a supermassive black hole. The mass of the black hole may be greater than that of the disk, but it is compacted into a smaller space.
What is located in the middle of our galaxy?
A supermassive black hole - with the mass of about 4,000,000 Suns.
What is a supermassive black hole and where are they?
It seems that most galaxies have a supermassive black hole in their center. These supermassive black holes have a mass that is millions of times the mass of our Sun; in larger galaxies, billions of times the mass of our Sun. Hence the name "supermassive". For comparison, when a star collapses, it is expected to produce a black hole that has less mass than the star originally had (some mass goes into space, in the supernova explosion), in other words, a few solar masses, or a few tens of them, at most.It seems that most galaxies have a supermassive black hole in their center. These supermassive black holes have a mass that is millions of times the mass of our Sun; in larger galaxies, billions of times the mass of our Sun. Hence the name "supermassive". For comparison, when a star collapses, it is expected to produce a black hole that has less mass than the star originally had (some mass goes into space, in the supernova explosion), in other words, a few solar masses, or a few tens of them, at most.It seems that most galaxies have a supermassive black hole in their center. These supermassive black holes have a mass that is millions of times the mass of our Sun; in larger galaxies, billions of times the mass of our Sun. Hence the name "supermassive". For comparison, when a star collapses, it is expected to produce a black hole that has less mass than the star originally had (some mass goes into space, in the supernova explosion), in other words, a few solar masses, or a few tens of them, at most.It seems that most galaxies have a supermassive black hole in their center. These supermassive black holes have a mass that is millions of times the mass of our Sun; in larger galaxies, billions of times the mass of our Sun. Hence the name "supermassive". For comparison, when a star collapses, it is expected to produce a black hole that has less mass than the star originally had (some mass goes into space, in the supernova explosion), in other words, a few solar masses, or a few tens of them, at most.
What is supermassive blackhole?
A supermassive black hole is a huge black hole, usually in the center of a galaxy. All or most galaxies are expected to have such supermassive black holes. Such a galactic black hole typically has over a million times the mass of our Sun; the largest (in large galaxies) have billions of times the mass of our Sun. The black hole in the center of our own galaxy (the Milky Way) is associated with the object Sagittarius A*, and it has a mass estimated at 4 million solar masses.
What is an intermediate black hole?
An intermediate-mass black hole is one that has a mass somewhere between 100 and a million solar masses, i.e., larger than the stellar black holes, but smaller than the supermassive black holes. It seems likely that such holes should exist, but the observational evidence is not yet very firm.An intermediate black hole is one whose mass is somewhere between that of a stellar black hole (a few times the mass of the Sun), and that of a supermassive, or galactic, black hole (millions or billions of times the mass of the Sun).
What is a super-massive black hole?
A supermassive black hole is a black hole with a very large mass, millions to billions times the mass of the sun. The supermassive black hole in our galaxy is about 4 million times the mass of the sun.
Has a black hole ever been in hour galaxy?
I assume you mean "our galaxy". There is a supermassive black hole, with a mass that is about 4 million times the mass of our Sun, at the center of our galaxy.
Is a black hole massive?
A black hole can have anywhere from 2-3 times the mass of the Sun (the lower limit for a stellar black hole), to about 20 billion times the mass of the Sun (the largest known supermassive black holes).
Is an Intermediate-mass black hole a type of black hole?
Yes. Intermediate-mass blackhole is a medium size black hole. Scientists have found stellar black holes and supermassive black holes but there is no prove that Intermediate-mass black type of black holes exist. My opinion is that they do exist because when a black hole is becoming a black hole supermassiveblack hole it will need to go though this stage of intermediate-mass black hole.
What is believed to be the solar mass of the black hole candidate at the center of the galaxy M87?
At the core of M87 is a supermassive black hole with about 6.4×109 times the mass of the Sun (See related question)
Is there mass in the supermassive blackhole of the milky way galaxy?
Yes. The mass inside the black hole is about 4 million times that of the sun.
