How fast do black holes rotate

About forty of them, known as S-stars, have orbits with a close approach to the black hole. Over time their orbits are shifted by the frame-dragging effect. If we can measure these shifts, we can measure the spin—the greater the spin, the greater the orbit shift. In this new work, the team studied the orbits of the S-stars and found no frame dragging shift.

Given how well we know the orbits of these stars, we know the black hole at the center of our galaxy must be rotating slowly. The team determined that its spin can be no more than 0. Reference: Fragione, Giacomo, and Abraham Loeb. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties. More information Privacy policy. This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, collect data for ads personalisation and provide content from third parties.

By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Share Twit Share Email. Artist rendering of a supermassive black hole. Scientists measure the spin rates of supermassive black holes by spreading the X-ray light into different colors. Source: Universe Today. Citation : How fast do black holes spin?

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All rights reserved. For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service. Supermassive black hole bigger than 7 billion Suns is spinning so fast that it's close to breaking the laws of physics Advertisement. A relatively low rotation rate would implicate mergers as the primary factor, because these random smashups likely wouldn't keep spinning the growing black hole up in the same direction.

However, "if you have a high-spin black hole, supermassive black hole, that's telling us that maybe steady accretion was dominant," Pasham said during a news conference at AAS Wednesday.

The new study was also published online Wednesday in the journal Science. You can read a preprint of it for free at arXiv. Follow him on Twitter michaeldwall.