SMBH
Science & Engineering abbreviation · Astronomy & Space
| Stands for | Supermassive black hole |
|---|---|
| Categories | Science & Engineering |
SMBH stands for Supermassive black hole, an astronomy & Space abbreviation.
Black hole with a mass from about a hundred thousand to billions of times the Sun's, found at the centers of most large galaxies. The Milky Way's SMBH, Sagittarius A*, has about 4 million solar masses, and the one in galaxy M87 about 6.5 billion.
Example: The Event Horizon Telescope imaged the shadow of the SMBH in M87 in 2019.
Usage notes
Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez shared half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for tracking stars orbiting Sagittarius A*. How SMBHs grew so large so early, within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang, is an open question sharpened by JWST discoveries.
Related abbreviations
More astronomy & Space abbreviations
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