OJ 287

Black Hole

A binary black hole system whose smaller companion punches through the larger one's disk every ~12 years, causing predictable flares.

Facts

TypeBlack Hole
Black hole typeSupermassive
Distance from Earth3,500,000,000 ly
Diameter106,000,000,000 km
Mass3.58 × 10^40 kg
Apparent magnitude15.43
Redshift0.306
HemisphereNorthern
Discovered1891

OJ 287 in context

Its mass is 17,998,994,470 times the mass of the Sun.

The light reaching us from OJ 287 tonight left it around 3,500,000,000 years ago.

Its light arrives redshifted by z = 0.306, stretched on the way here by the universe's expansion.

It has been on record since 1891.

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