Scientists Discover Teeny Tiny Black Hole

Scientists Discover Teeny Tiny Black Hole 277

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:04PM from the for-relative-terms-of-teeny-and-tiny dept.

AbsoluteXyro writes "According to a Space.com article, NASA scientists have discovered the smallest known black hole to date. The object is known as 'XTE J1650-500'. Weighing in at a scant 3.8 solar masses and measuring only 15 miles across, this finding sheds new light on the lower limit of black hole sizes and the critical threshold at which a star will become a black hole upon its death, rather than a neutron star. XTE J1650-500 beats out the previous record holder, GRO 1655-40, by about 2.5 solar masses."

Scientists Discover Teeny Tiny Black Hole

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That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:05PM (#22945880)

They say LHC-001 will be even smaller!

(But who will be there to measure...?)

Name (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:06PM (#22945890)

But XTE J1650-500 is so bland! I think we should name it Mooseknuckle.

Is it smaller than this one? (Score:4, Funny)

by newscloud ( 1037538 ) * writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:07PM (#22945904) Homepage

Fears raised collider would create black holes that could swallow planet [newscloud.com]

LHC countdown (Score:2, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:08PM (#22945922)

Is this the point where they say we'll need to re-think our theories on black hole evapouration too? But first, let's switch on the LHC and see what happens...

Black-hole... sheds new light... (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:08PM (#22945924)

HILARITY!

We weren't the first (Score:5, Funny)

by cryptoluddite ( 658517 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:10PM (#22945948)

I see we weren't the first to build a large hadron collider.

Awwww, little baby one (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:14PM (#22945984)

It may look cute now. But they grow up.

Goldilocks (Score:5, Funny)

by Dopamine, Redacted ( 1244524 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:16PM (#22946016)

So, we've now discovered the biggest and smallest black holes known to exist within about a week of each other.

When we find the most average, space bears will come and blast us into porridge.

Astronomy kicks ass.

Completely Off topic (Score:1, Funny)

by ijakings ( 982830 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:24PM (#22946104)

But is anyone else seeing these Russian bride adverts all over the site?

True theyve probably got a good market to advertise to, Helena wont need as much inflating as your LatexLove3000 but it just seems odd to see them all over Slashdot.

Re:15 miles across? (Score:3, Funny)

by Bemopolis ( 698691 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:38PM (#22946240)

What is the theoretical time before this black hole evaporates through Hawking radiation?

About 10^68 yr. Bring a book.

Bemopolis

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

by B3ryllium ( 571199 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:50PM (#22946370) Homepage

He's talking out of his hardon-collider.

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

by sayfawa ( 1099071 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:52PM (#22946392)

There may already be microscopic (more like picoscopic) black holes all around us. The thing with black holes is they are only dangerous if you get close to them. If they are small they can whiz right through us without hitting anything, much like many other particles that pass through us all the time. I'm not saying that creating one would be a good idea, but if, on the off-chance, one were created by the LHC it will probably be innocuous. I wish I could make those sound less like famous last words.

"this finding sheds new light" (Score:5, Funny)

by nick_davison ( 217681 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:56PM (#22946432)

"this finding sheds new light"
I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

Re:That's nothing... (Score:2, Funny)

by Tringard ( 595737 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @07:58PM (#22946450) Journal

I would guess it is to denote the first to come out of the Large Hadron Collider.

Re:We weren't the first (Score:4, Funny)

by Oktober Sunset ( 838224 ) writes: <sdpage103@ y a h o o . c o.uk> on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @08:02PM (#22946488)

Wikipedia says Goatse.cx was launched in 1999, but Hello.jpg was on IRC before then, so the black hole much have been created quite a while ago quite a while ago.

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

by ShadowBlasko ( 597519 ) writes: <shadowblasko@NoSpAM.gmail.com> on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @08:03PM (#22946500)

So thats where all my socks keep going!

Re:We weren't the first (Score:4, Funny)

by treeves ( 963993 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @08:11PM (#22946564) Homepage Journal

Yuck. I hate those artificial ones. They're full of preservatives. Give me a good old-fashioned, all natural, non-GMO, organic black hole any day.

Size does matter (Score:2, Funny)

by HangingChad ( 677530 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @08:41PM (#22946758) Homepage

It's not the size of your black hole that matters, it's how you manage your singularity.

Oh shit... (Score:5, Funny)

by neokushan ( 932374 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @08:44PM (#22946782)

If that happens, what are we going to do!? Capitan Picard hasn't been born yet! Hell, even Kirk isn't around yet....

Re:We weren't the first (Score:3, Funny)

by somersault ( 912633 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @08:49PM (#22946820) Homepage Journal

You must be new here - 99% of /.ers can easily sustain singularity.

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

by c6gunner ( 950153 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @08:49PM (#22946824) Homepage

He's talking out of his hardon-collider.
How exactly did we get from talking about black holes, to talking about gay porn?

....

Actually, nm, don't say it, it's too obvious....

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

by inode_buddha ( 576844 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @08:54PM (#22946858) Journal

Nope. Umatched socks are simply the larval stage of coat hangers.

What the article fails to pont out is ... (Score:5, Funny)

by celtic_hackr ( 579828 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @09:01PM (#22946906) Journal

This newly discovered Black Hole is the final result of a Large Hadron Collider, that caused a microsopic black hole on the third planet formerly circling the former star now known as 'XTE J1650-500'. So, this is not a naturally occuring black hole, but an alien-created one. Sadly this alien species is now extinct so they can't tell us how to avoid their mistake.

Re:Oh shit... (Score:5, Funny)

by evilviper ( 135110 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @09:26PM (#22947088) Journal

If that happens, what are we going to do!? Capitan Picard hasn't been born yet! Hell, even Kirk isn't around yet....

Not to worry, the Enterprise is speeding around the Sun as we speak... Space-whales told them to.

Re:That's nothing... (Score:3, Funny)

by wtansill ( 576643 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @10:52PM (#22947616)

I'm not saying that creating one would be a good idea, but if, on the off-chance, one were created by the LHC it will probably be innocuous. I wish I could make those sound less like famous last words.
What would be really scary is if the chief scientist says "Hold my beer and watch this" just before pushing the master ignition switch...

Relax (Score:4, Funny)

by Orion Blastar ( 457579 ) writes: <orionblastar AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @11:21PM (#22947764) Homepage Journal

as long as Stephen Hawking is still alive, I am sure he can handle it. After all Stephen Hawking beat all the other great scientists in poker with Commander Data in the far future, so he should be smarter than Picard or Kirk. If anyone knows how to reverse a black hole it would be Hawking.

Besides never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon Five problem. [starwreck.com]

Atkins? (Score:2, Funny)

by JeffSchwab ( 1159723 ) * writes: <jeff@schwabcenter.com> on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @11:22PM (#22947770) Homepage

I'd love to know XTE J1650-500's secret. I've tried diet and exercise, but I'm still only down to 3.9 solar masses and 16 miles across.

Re:That's nothing... (Score:4, Funny)

by Kingrames ( 858416 ) writes: on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @11:41PM (#22947852)

So what you're saying is that the odds of getting sucked into a black hole are proportional to its size. That sounds like something you could write a couple hundred to a couple thousand pages on and get a doctorate out of.

But... it needs more string theory.

Re:Probably Something Stupid (Score:2, Funny)

by pseudochaos ( 1014063 ) writes: on Thursday April 03, 2008 @01:03AM (#22948288)

Sure you can measure what's going on past the event horizon of a black hole. All you have to do is make your camera's velocity exceed the force created (or rather possessed) by a photon going at the speed of light, and presto! You now have a camera that can probe farther into the gravimetric field of a black hole than light by itself.

Unless you're one of those General Relativity literalists. *shudder*

Re:That's nothing... (Score:4, Funny)

by phirst ( 683939 ) writes: on Thursday April 03, 2008 @01:12AM (#22948328) Homepage

001 = First black hole created by LHC. Some people are afraid the LHC-001 is going to destroy the Earth.
Presumably you're not one of them, what with your three digit black hole serial numbers...

Re:Relax (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Thursday April 03, 2008 @01:22AM (#22948362)

But what happens when we apply Battlestar Galactica morals to Star Trek and try to solve them with Babylon Five technology?

Re:Probably Something Stupid (Score:3, Funny)

by Ecuador ( 740021 ) writes: on Thursday April 03, 2008 @01:33AM (#22948408) Homepage

Sorry to break this to you, but you are rather mediocre at technobabble.

Re:Relax (Score:3, Funny)

by techno-vampire ( 666512 ) writes: on Thursday April 03, 2008 @02:02AM (#22948550) Homepage

You end up on Moya, fleeing from the Peacekeepers. What else would you expect?

I dunno, but... (Score:4, Funny)

by OneoFamillion ( 968420 ) writes: on Thursday April 03, 2008 @03:11AM (#22948840)

for those wanting to find the article later, I strongly suggest Slashdot's own search instead of googling for the words "teeny", "tiny", "black" and "hole" :|

Re:That's nothing... (Score:2, Funny)

by electricbern ( 1222632 ) writes: on Thursday April 03, 2008 @09:08AM (#22950282)

Eventually every household will have it's own blackhole. Then we will need IPv6 serial numbers for them.

Re:Goldilocks (Score:3, Funny)

by MozeeToby ( 1163751 ) writes: on Thursday April 03, 2008 @09:44AM (#22950648)

And the number one threat to America...

BEARS!!

http://www.livescience.com/space/scienceastronomy/080402-medium-black-holes.html [livescience.com]

There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.

That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

Name (Score:1, Funny)

Is it smaller than this one? (Score:4, Funny)

LHC countdown (Score:2, Funny)

Black-hole... sheds new light... (Score:5, Funny)

We weren't the first (Score:5, Funny)

Awwww, little baby one (Score:5, Funny)

Goldilocks (Score:5, Funny)

Completely Off topic (Score:1, Funny)

Re:15 miles across? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

"this finding sheds new light" (Score:5, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:We weren't the first (Score:4, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:We weren't the first (Score:4, Funny)

Size does matter (Score:2, Funny)

Oh shit... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:We weren't the first (Score:3, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:5, Funny)

What the article fails to pont out is ... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Oh shit... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:3, Funny)

Relax (Score:4, Funny)

Atkins? (Score:2, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Probably Something Stupid (Score:2, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Relax (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Probably Something Stupid (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Relax (Score:3, Funny)

I dunno, but... (Score:4, Funny)

Re:That's nothing... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Goldilocks (Score:3, Funny)

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