What is the difference between stellar and galactic black holes?
Category:
Science > Physics
Keywords:
difference, compare, stellar, galactic, black hole
Type:
what
Rating:(0 ratings) Views: 398 Discussions: 0 In Watch Lists: 1
Answer:
The only real difference between these two kinds of black hole is size. A black hole in an X-ray binary will only be a few times as massive as the sun. A black hole at the center of an active galaxy can be millions of times as massive as the sun. It can get so big because the density of matter in a galactic center is high so there is lots of matter for it to accrete.
Both kinds of black hole can have an accretion disk. Usually most of the radiation we detect comes from the accretion disk. The accretion disk of a super-massive black hole will be much larger than that of one in an X-ray binary. This means that the radiation that we detect varies on a much longer timescale (days instead of milliseconds).
(
Add to Groups 
Add to Watch Lists 
