How big is a supermassive black hole compared to Earth?

The gigantic black hole, not counting the giant rings of trapped light orbiting it, is about 23.6 billion miles (38 billion kilometers) across, according to Science News. Meanwhile, the Earth is just 7,917 miles in diameter — meaning our planet wouldn’t even be a drop in the bucket of the giant, black void.

How much bigger are supermassive black holes compared to our sun?

It has a diameter of about 78 billion miles. For perspective, that’s about 40\% the size of our solar system, according to some estimates. And it’s estimated to be about 21 billion times the mass of our sun. So there you have it, black holes can be millions of times larger than suns and planets or as small as a city.

How large is a supermassive black hole?

Supermassive black holes are classically defined as black holes with a mass above 0.1 million to 1 million M ☉. Some astronomers have begun labeling black holes of at least 10 billion M ☉ as ultramassive black holes.

How big is a black hole compared to a star?

They found that the black hole at the center of Holm 15A clocks in at colossal 40 billion solar masses, or roughly two-thirds the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way. At that mass, it has a diameter the size of the entire Solar System, an astounding size for any single object to have.

Why are black holes different sizes?

Black holes come in many sizes and their size depends on how much material is in them (their mass). Some are the remains of a giant star which collapsed. A star has to be much more massive than our Sun to become a black hole. These types of black holes are only a few miles across.

Are black holes big or small?

How Big Are Black Holes? Black holes can be big or small. Scientists think the smallest black holes are as small as just one atom. These black holes are very tiny but have the mass of a large mountain.

Is the largest black hole bigger than the largest star?

Black holes are the largest single objects in the universe, many times larger than even the biggest stars, and have no upper limit to their size.