Science & Technology

Black Hole Spinning at Nearly the Speed of Light

NGC 1365

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Astronomers, for the first time, have measured the spin rate of a super-massive black hole—and found it is rotating at nearly the speed of light.

The supermassive black hole lies at the center of the spiral galaxy NGC 1365. The sphere is more than 2 million miles across, eight times the distance from Earth to the Moon.