New way of 'weighing' black holes

Researchers have proposed a new way to determine the enormous size of black superholes.

>>>New conjecture about the shape of a black hole

Black holes are known to exist at the center of most galaxies, but there are still many unanswered mysteries that are their influence on galaxies' evolution.

Black hole in central galaxy NGC4526 has been re-estimated volume - (Photo: NASA)

The new approach, published in Nature, deduces the mass of a black hole based on the molecular speed around it.

This helps to weigh hundreds of black holes near the Milky Way, and the first application shows the black hole in NGC4526 galaxy weighing about 450 million times our sun.

Experts now only estimate the mass of several dozen black holes. Because they cannot be seen directly, astronomers must rely on the motion of objects around them.

Most of the predictions are based on light gathering, by calculating the movement of stars near black holes compared to more distant stars, but this calculation method has average accuracy, and has can be disturbed by random movements of some unusual stars.

The new study focuses on cool, dense, less turbulent air masses, and emits radiation at ultrasonic wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. This allows the use of telescopes with better resolution, according to expert Timothy Davis of the Southern European Observatory.

New estimates are expected to help reveal the interaction between black holes and host galaxies.