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The Conversation
Fan Zou, Graduate Student in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State

Supermassive black holes have masses of more than a million suns – but their growth has slowed as the universe has aged

Black Hole Sun Penn State Mergers the US National Science Foundation
Most of the blue points in this sky survey image are accreting supermassive black holes emitting strong X-rays. Fan Zou (Penn State) and the XMM-SERVS Collaboration

Black holes are remarkable astronomical objects with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape them. The most gigantic ones, known as “supermassive” black holes, can weigh millions to billions times the mass of the Sun.

These giants usually live in the centers of galaxies. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, contains a supermassive black hole in its heart as well.

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