The number of black holes in the milky Way

Scientists from the University of California, Irvine (USA) estimated the number of black holes in the milky Way. Preprint of the study is available in edition “Tapes.ru”.

In the milky Way scientists have counted a few million black holes, which are about thirty times heavier than the Sun.

To such conclusions the authors came, using the observed ratio between the mass of a Galaxy and the stellar metallicity (content of elements heavier than helium).

Scientists say that the smaller a galaxy is, the higher the proportion of black holes, which are heavier than the Sun 50 times. On the other hand, the share of black holes, which are heavier than the lights ten times, large large star systems.

About one percent of black holes constitute a binary system. They, the authors, are of interest to gravitational-wave Observatory LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational Observatory), which is 14 September 2015, first observed the perturbations of space-time.

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