Supermassive Black Hole at a glance
Object typeBlack hole class
FocusMass, gravity and event horizon
ScaleCompact object
Guide styleVisual and plain English
Gravity pushed to an extreme
Supermassive Black Hole describes a black-hole scale or formation scenario. A black hole is a region where gravity is strong enough that the escape speed beyond the event horizon exceeds the speed of light.
What we actually observe
Black holes themselves do not shine like normal stars. Astronomers infer them from surrounding hot gas, stellar orbits, gravitational waves, jets and the effects of their gravity.
Different masses, different environments
Supermassive Black Hole belongs to a wider black-hole family ranging from stellar remnants to the enormous objects found in galactic centres.
From the original archive
This English guide is part of the rebuilt VisibleGalaxies archive and uses topic and visual material from the supplied source site.