Article Tools

Font size
Share This

Photo: N/A, License: N/A

NASA VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS An illustration shows a supermassive black hole in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 1365.

LOS ANGELES - There's a new spin on supermassive black holes: They're incredibly fast, astronomers say.



They calculated its spin at close to the speed of light - 670 million mph.


Behemoth black holes - with masses millions to billions times that of the sun - are thought to reside in every galactic center. They're extremely dense and possess such powerful gravitational tug that not even light can escape.

Scientists are able to pinpoint these monstrous objects from streams of X-rays emitted during a feeding frenzy.