Star tracked as it orbits the Milky Way's black hole

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http://www.newscientist.com/article/d...

Over a period of 16 years, astronomers tracked stars as they orbited the Milky Way's central region, which is thought to harbour a colossal black hole. One star, called S2, was observed over its complete 15.8-year-long orbit. The star approached the black hole to within one light day, which is only about five times the distance between Neptune and the Sun. (Courtesy of ESO)

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  Science & Technology

[waterdamnaged]

I read yesterday that the ol'milky way could actually be bigger than andromeda! bigger black hole... more mass...stars orbiting faster around the core...more proto-stars near the center, etc. sooo Take that Andromeda, ya skinny bitch :P

[Darren Lavercombe]

What do you mean by "when a black hole fills up"? What limit is there that decides a black hole is full? It isn't like a hole in the ground. You do know that, right?

It seems according to observations that when black hole collide it makes a bigger black hole. Why is this wrong?

[Jim Colyer]

I fell into a black hole in 1975. It's called Nashville.

[Darren Lavercombe]

@4d616c65737469636b Thanks for your comment. I had to look back what I'd said as it was 2 years ago. I should have said that they gain mass, not get bigger, but it seems who ever I was talking too had no idea about cosmology anyway so you rather late game of semantics is futile. Perhaps you'd like me to send you some of my 1970's school homework so you can critique that as well.

[4d616c65737469636b]

It's not the black hole it self growing It's the event horizon.

[Nonohino R]

The Void, eh?

[NarowAR07]

am i the only one expecting porn from the title ?

[TehKazangsta]

agreed. :D

[ClitoriousCeasar]

lol.. the funniest think is that there are documentaries that try to estimate the fate of our solar system and earth after the collision. like our solar system will even exist by then.. most probably there will be a red giant with only jupiter-saturn-uranus-neptune still around (and there is a very likely possibility that one of uranus-neptune will be gone rogue much earlier). :)

[Bill Mumford]

How much fuel would it take to send our government "leaders" directly to this centre, and eject them naked into the hole, anyone know? I'm willing to pay more taxes to this end.

[xandju]

there's a black hole in the middle of the milkyway. our galaxy. the star you see the whipps around the bottom of it? 11mil miles/hr as it whips around lol.

[cruppted]

thinking we came from apes is a common misconception