AS102 Study Guide - Final Guide: Cygnus X-1, Accretion Disk, Hubble Space Telescope
Document Summary
The masses of black holes range from 3 times the mass of the sun (or 3 msun) to 21 billion times the mass of the sun (21 x 109 msun) quite a wide range. It is believed that micro black holes exist that have a mass of less than the mass of our moon and a. Schwarzschild radius of less than 0. 1 mm (10- If our earth were to become a black hole (an impossibility) it would have a. Schwarzschild radius of 0. 9 cm; mercury would have a schwarzschild radius of about. 0. 05 cm; an object of jupiter"s mass would have a schwarzschild radius of about 2. 8 metres. Since black holes emit no light any evidence for them must be indirect. Gas overflowing from a black hole"s companion star will form a hot, x-ray emitting accretion disk similar to the disks that circle accreting neutron stars. The x-rays can escape because the disk emits them from outside the event horizon.
