NASA Animation Sizes Up the Biggest Black Holes

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this video mislabeled the orbit of Saturn as the orbit of Jupiter.
This new NASA animation highlights the “super” in supermassive black holes. These monsters lurk in the centers of most big galaxies, including our own Milky Way, and contain between 100,000 and tens of billions of times more mass than our Sun.
Any light crossing the event horizon - the black hole’s point of no return - becomes trapped forever, and any light passing close to it is redirected by the black hole’s intense gravity. Together, these effects produce a “shadow” about twice the size of the black hole’s actual event horizon.
The animation shows 10 supersized black holes that occupy center stage in their host galaxies, including the Milky Way and M87, scaled by the sizes of their shadows. Starting near the Sun, the camera steadily pulls back to compare ever-larger black holes to different structures in our solar system.
First up is 1601+3113, a dwarf galaxy hosting a black hole packed with the mass of 100,000 Suns. The matter is so compressed that even the black hole’s shadow is smaller than our Sun.
The black hole at the heart of our own galaxy, called Sagittarius A* (pronounced ay-star), boasts the weight of 4.3 million Suns based on long-term tracking of stars in orbit around it. It’s shadow diameter spans about half that of Mercury’s orbit in our solar system.
The animation shows two monster black holes in the galaxy known as NGC 7727. Located about 1,600 light-years apart, one weighs 6 million solar masses and the other more than 150 million Suns. Astronomers say the pair will merge within the next 250 million years.
At the animation’s larger scale lies M87’s black hole, now with a updated mass of 5.4 billion Suns. Its shadow is so big that even a beam of light - traveling at 670 million mph (1 billion kph) - would take about two and a half days to cross it.
The movie ends with TON 618, one of a handful of extremely distant and massive black holes for which astronomers have direct measurements. This behemoth contains more than 60 billion solar masses, and it boasts a shadow so large that a beam of light would take weeks to traverse it.
Music credit: "In the Stars" from Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
Lead Producer: Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Lead Animator: Krystofer Kim (KBRwyle)
Lead Science writer: Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)
Visualizer: Jeremy Schnittman (NASA/GSFC)
Producer: Sophia Roberts (AIMM)
Scientist: Jeremy Schnittman (NASA/GSFC)
This video can be freely shared and downloaded at svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14335. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14335. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines.
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· Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc

[@Frantixj]

Does this mean I don't have to work tomorrow?

[@diveshsharma7043]

😂 😂 😂

[@3405kmtilHolte]

😂 💦

[@PraveenKumarDodla]

A very valid question 😂😂😂😂😂

[@DedicatedSlaya]

"I'm Done!!!" (sound of door slam, car peeling off) 🤣👍

[@d6vidrv]

yes

[@maurenovick]

Space is both fascinating and terrifying!!

[@timmerken]

Terrinating!

[@mrcat926]

Super terrifying

[@mammontustado9680]

​@@timmerkenfascifying! 😅

[@doggystyledave]

😍 ... and faked! Baa Baaa!

[@ModernSynthesist]

This is AMAZING! I now understand what is meant by "Super massive" 🤯

[@uk4490]

It must have a super nice personality too.

[@marufadi]

​@@uk4490 two nice personalities to be exact

[@Black-bn6ic]

@@uk4490 Once you go black, you never go back. Literally in this case.

[@Fezgo]

Ton 618 is considered 'ultra massive' ;)

[@neeegor]

And after that i don't think so we truly understand what is mean "Super massive"

[@ChuuyasTackyHat]

These are beautiful yet teriffying and send shivers down my whole spine.

[@DBitRun]

Wow! That last one can practically swallow our entire Solar System and more! 😱

[@shweta1322]

It can fit more than 11 solar systems

[@NoahCanFB]

Practically? It'd eat up thousands of our solar system no problem

[@criscriscriscris]

@@shweta1322 it’s actually around 1000 times bigger than our solar system!

[@shweta1322]

@@criscriscriscris nah bro it's too much

[@adityarajsingh8110]

I think it can easily engulf our entire milky way and Andromeda galaxy

[@helenafonseca8606]

This gave me goosebumps.

[@rajithskumar]

There are even more such wonders yet to be discovered which may gives either goosebumps or fear in ourselves

[@anthonyn5385]

TON 618!! What a monster.

[@carmamd]

😮😮 very nice animation for comparisons. Visual comparisons help me grasp. Relative size is better than comparative masses.

[@darshan303]

We are nothing in this universe but we still have so much ego to be proud of and fight for material things....

[@crateer]

This should put our so called "problems" into perspective!

[@SiriHakuoh]

@@crateer LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL Literally!!! xD

[@0condolences]

corny af

[@sanjeevdandin9350]

Enable humanity to be capable of interstellar travels then we will let go of fighting for material things.
Till then deal with it.

[@trumpsucks2290]

wow! its frightening there are powerful objects like this out there.

[@PROJaiRU]

And yet , you almost was killed by and invisible covid virus

[@antonioturner3835]

​@@PROJaiRU fr id say we would be zcrewed up there but these are millions of lightyears away making it practically impossible for us to go anywhere, well without cryo pods and unlimited fuel

[@shubhamwr]

@@antonioturner3835 we still won't have unlimited time.

[@diveshsharma7043]

People having ego problems must watch this video.

[@christiansiegert9895]

Stunning visuals!

[@LiberumCogitandi]

Thanks to video operator for great work!

[@Dizmo215]

Omg this is scary 😢and insane ,crazy huge,how these monsters are created 😮

[@legitskateclips]

thats what she said

[@Dwaxxx]

​@@legitskateclips You got me 😂

[@WAVEZCLUB]

MIND BLOWING..... We are just Tardigrade to these Behemoths

[@cpasket122]

Way smaller than tardigrades. Probably smaller than most bacteria. But yes, as you said it’s mind blowing

[@AhhTheBonnie]

We’re Quarks

[@christianyobel117]

We're Quacks

[@orllop620]

@@christianyobel117 Quacks makes more sense that quarks

[@xGORJAx]

I'd say we're even smaller than that in comparison. Like whatever makes up quarks.

[@markuse9018]

How is this possible, totally amazing

[@Firu42]

you just need to eat a lot

[@antonioturner3835]

Singularity

[@ilonastezowska9498]

Brilliant video. Scary stuff.

[@clairecadoux471]

Brilliant animation😊

[@johnbravo2301]

Mind blown overwhelmed and scary.

[@Fenelon00]

Fascynuje i przeraża jednocześnie 😲

[@MultiElektryk]

Film jest oszukany, bo galaktyka drogi mlecznej jest pokazana jako mikroskopijna a ma 120 mld słońc plus masa planet a tą dziure opisują jako o masie 30 mld słońc.

[@mfgassets5195]

Truly amazing!

[@bronislavklofac5313]

Mind-blowing

[@charlie2105]

Chills. Bravo!

[@Imrankhan-dj3cl]

Incredible 😮

[@vonpalyka]

Amazing and terrifying!

[@nelsondanielmonroylopez851]

fantastic and terrifying

[@CarlosGarcia-nx6wp]

Simplesmente fantástico!!!!!!😮😮😮😮😮

[@tinkletimegaming8488]

Mesmerizing

[@Rmm1722]

awesome mind-blowing 🤯🤯🤯🤯

[@hardiklakhepuriya]

giving me chills

[@smbhquasar1527]

Really epic!

[@chDavid1]

Where is "Phoenix A"? :D
(Nice comparisation btw :) )

[@shweta1322]

It is only a theory that it is larger not real

[@tomato8933]

We don't know its actual size, so it's not included

[@elisedoyle7781]

Incredible 👌🌹

[@fentonpainter7907]

Mind blown 🤯

[@Mr_Battlefield]

Wow, my mind is blown. 😮

[@space_academy]

Great video NASA! We had to gasp for each one that appeared after Cygnus A!

[@bos_guy101]

AMAZING!!!!!

[@juanrodriguez2201]

Absolutamente formidable! Que barbaridad!!!

[@EYT]

This would be a great "yo' Mama" joke

[@ayoutuber6315]

That’s really cool

[@lj626-dx1eq]

Thanks @NASAGODDARD this vid was really well put together. Music is abzolutely epic also. Brilliance makes Brilliance

[@alicepisjak7789]

what is this music, please?

[@ReginaAntiola-ug6wm]

I WILL PUT 1 DECILLION SUN(2 UNVIGINTILLION GRAMS)

[@hamitelik7377]

Amazing 😱

[@stantrew7715]

Infinity...This is all well beyond human comprehension.

[@vindicator05]

Several times in this video alone I found my coping strategy for a certain wtf only to meet rhe next even bigger wtf just seconds later.

[@adonistopofmen2571]

Great images ...

[@illusion-zl8kw]

NASA just gets better and better. Amazing.

[@laurence5667]

Magie de l'espace

[@sodishshrestha2053]

66 billion suns?? That's super freaky!!

[@shweta1322]

And 11 solar systems wide.....

[@crazygino77]

Epic

[@danielg5730]

Impressionante ❤❤

[@leotimtom6637]

That`s heavy! 618 tons!

[@pittiebaby]

This is awsome yet ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING 😱😱

[@drakemallard1486]

There are so many good comments for "That's what she said." I can't even.

[@MarkDelaney67]

Thankyou

[@Pseudo___]

Ok but should add in distance to nearest star

[@kagannasuhbeyoglu]

It's very impressive...

[@creativespace8637]

Expansion of space is still scarier

[@tellesalves3751]

Colossal! 😱💥

[@blackandblue85]

This music is amazing

[@michaelyoung8864]

Defining, not to say daunting …

[@ChromeXk]

Genuinely surprised how small a lot of these are like Sagittarius A and some like Cygnus are a lot bigger than I realised.

[@KingBritish]

Insane.

[@user-yq6wk5js2o]

Не могу никак найти эту прекрасную музыку, звучащая в ролике)))

[@DaK1ller]

Now Phoenix A is much larger than TON618

[@dundunsar]

many things are insignificant

[@jijnasadey]

How interesting!!

[@Goth7illa]

Things that make you go ‘AAAH!’😱

[@The44kGaming]

Amazing video. Subtitles too fast tho.

[@rhendellinkern7121]

Wow 😳😲

[@vedchaudhary1180]

I like how nasa uses Gargantua Interstellar image in place of cygnus A

[@suyapajimenez516]

Scary 😳

[@kad161]

nice

[@wwutama]

Awful lot of things out there that we still do not know😐

[@anonymousrebel6614]

Get ready to be blipped!

[@mk_rexx]

This is like cosmic horror

[@PicsReviews]

Thank god these black holes are not greedy as we humans 😅

[@dgvs3718]

Tópe esses achismo tchê!

[@diegofernandolopezpalacio4515]

Oh! My God!

[@juanjong7888]

Ton 618 , el gran glotón!!

[@Jackspiring]

I feel like i’ve seen this before Kurzgesagt

[@user-uv9mp9vb6w]

소름...

[@shukry-qg4vk]

So true about man in black movie how small our universe as kid me think nah just movie 😅

[@user-nb7co9hs3g]

*ah yes... TON 618... also known as: Yir-Mawm*

[@OlemirCandido]

Assustador.

[@MigueldeCastro719]

Scary and ghastly

[@albertogmail8017]

Asusta tanta enormidad.
Gran video

[@holtenauer63]

Wie klein und unbedeutend wir sind 🤔

[@__gywls]

우주는 보면 볼수록 소름 돋는듯..무서워요..

[@henriOnimura30]

Somos extremamente insignificantes perante as coisas gigantescas existentes no universo, está fora do nosso alcance.

[@sam_mugnier]

but enough to our imagination

[@akilghosh]

Wow Andromeda's is so much more larger than milky way's 😲

[@piuw3554]

Space ☄️

[@sasha_thewhite]

True heart of darkness exists…

[@ahrorobidov4519]

ImoThe scale is not calculeted properly though graphics briliant

[@danielaugusto8433]

Sinister

[@cazz2216]

I have nightmares with Black Holes 🫠

[@EGlobalTrading]

You forgot about Phoenix A, it's about twenty times bigger than TON.

[@ishitatiwari6056]

100 billion solar masses compared to 66 billion solar masses isn't 20 times lol. Plus those figures are outdated since it was only a theory that it could be that large but it actually is a lot smaller.

[@tomato8933]

It's only 2.5 times bigger (if our math is correct)

[@harshbayad7]

​@@tomato8933 Mass of phoenix A has not been accurately measured, it's just theory

[@KKRR777]

m87 is HUGEEE

[@JuniorSantos-dt4zr]

Incrível

[@zaze1533]

Não, porque isso non existe

[@jimmythepotato7501]

theres a new biggest one, i think its called Pheonix A

[@maaj_chouri]

Woooohhh, This is something seriously terrifying! Still we're alone! 👀

[@rehabcityman]

No, you are not 👽

[@nem3th]

Maybe because we are like microbs or dust for them , they are not even interested to waste.