This list of

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...

s (and

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s considered probable candidates) is organized by mass (including

s of undetermined mass); some items in this list are

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

star cluster Star clusters are large groups of stars. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters are more loosely clust ...

s that are believed to be organized around a

. Messier and

New General Catalogue The ''New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars'' (abbreviated NGC) is an astronomical catalogue of deep-sky objects compiled by John Louis Emil Dreyer in 1888. The NGC contains 7,840 objects, including galaxies, star clusters and ...

designations are given where possible.

Supermassive black holes and candidates

* 1ES 2344+514 *

Ton 618 TON 618 (short for Tonantzintla 618) is a hyperluminous, broad-absorption-line, radio-loud quasar and Lyman-alpha blob located near the border of the constellations Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices, with the projected comoving distance of app ...

(this

quasar A quasar is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a m ...

has possibly the biggest

ever found, estimated at 66 billion solar masses) *

3C 371 3C 371 is a BL Lac object located in the constellation Draco. With a redshift of 0.051, this active galaxy is about 730 million light-years away. 3C 371 is a well known object, first associated with the BL Lac class by Miller in 1975, and i ...

* 4C +37.11 (this

radio galaxy A radio galaxy is a galaxy with giant regions of radio emission extending well beyond its visible structure. These energetic radio lobes are powered by jets from its active galactic nucleus. They have luminosities up to 1039 W at radio wa ...

is believed to have binary

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical obj ...

s) * AP Lib * S5 0014+81 (said to be a compact hyperluminous

, estimated at 40 billion

solar mass The solar mass () is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and black holes. It is approximately equal to the mass ...

es) 17:53:24 GMT. *

APM 08279+5255 APM 08279+5255 is a very distant, broad absorption line quasar located in the constellation Lynx. It is magnified and split into multiple images by the gravitational lensing effect of a foreground galaxy through which its light passes. It appea ...

(contains one of the largest black holes, estimated at 10-23 billion

es; previous candidate for largest) *

Arp 220 Arp 220 is the result of a collision between two galaxies which are now in the process of merging. It is the 220th object in Halton Arp's ''Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies''. Features Arp 220 is the closest Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy (ULIRG) to ...

Centaurus A Centaurus A (also known as NGC 5128 or Caldwell 77) is a galaxy in the constellation of Centaurus. It was discovered in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop from his home in Parramatta, in New South Wales, Australia. There is considerable d ...

* Fornax A *

HE0450-2958 HE0450-2958 is an unusual quasar. It has been called the "naked quasar" and the "quasar without a home" because it appears to lack a host galaxy. It is estimated to lie approximately one billion parsecs away. History A team of researchers led ...

IC 1459 IC 1459 (also catalogued as ''IC 5265'') is an elliptical galaxy located in the constellation Grus. It is located at a distance of circa 85 million light-years from Earth, which, given its apparent dimensions, means that IC 1459 is about 130,000 ...

Messier 31 Messier may refer to: People with the surname *Charles Messier, French astronomer *Éric Messier, former NHL defenseman *George Messier, French inventor *Jean-Marie Messier, former CEO of Vivendi Universal *Marc Messier, Canadian actor from Quebec ...

(or the

Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: ), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with the diameter of about approximately from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The gala ...

) *

Messier 32 Messier 32 (also known as M32 and NGC 221) is a dwarf "early-type" galaxy about from the Solar System, appearing in the constellation Andromeda. M32 is a satellite galaxy of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and was discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil ...

Messier 51 Messier may refer to: People with the surname *Charles Messier, French astronomer *Éric Messier, former NHL defenseman *George Messier, French inventor *Jean-Marie Messier, former CEO of Vivendi Universal * Marc Messier, Canadian actor from Quebec ...

(or the

Whirlpool Galaxy The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classifie ...

) *

Messier 60 Messier 60 or M60, also known as NGC 4649, is an elliptical galaxy approximately 57 million light-years away in the equatorial constellation of Virgo. Together with NGC 4647, it forms a pair known as Arp 116. Messier 60 and nearby ellipti ...

Messier 77 Messier 77 or M77, also known as NGC 1068 and the Squid Galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy about 47 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus. Messier 77 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780, who originally described it as a nebul ...

Messier 81 Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of . Because of its relative proximity to the Milky Way ga ...

(or

Bode's Galaxy Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of . Because of its relative proximity to the Milky Way ...

) * Messier 84 *

Messier 87 Messier 87 (also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, generally abbreviated to M87) is a supergiant elliptical galaxy with several trillion stars in the constellation Virgo. One of the largest and most massive galaxies in the local uni ...

(or

Virgo A Messier 87 (also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, generally abbreviated to M87) is a supergiant elliptical galaxy with several trillion stars in the constellation Virgo. One of the largest and most massive galaxies in the local uni ...

) * Messier 104 (or the

Sombrero Galaxy The Sombrero Galaxy (also known as Messier Object 104, M104 or NGC 4594) is a peculiar galaxy of unclear classification in the constellation borders of Virgo and Corvus, being about from the Milky Way galaxy. It is a member of the Virgo II Grou ...

) *

Messier 105 Messier 105 or M105, also known as NGC 3379, is an elliptical galaxy 36.6 million light-years away in the equatorial constellation of Leo. It is the biggest elliptical galaxy in the Messier catalogue that is not in the Virgo cluster. It wa ...

Messier 106 Messier 106 (also known as NGC 4258) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. M106 is at a distance of about 22 to 25 million light-years away from Earth. M106 contains an ...

* Mrk 421 *

Mrk 501 Markarian 501 (or Mrk 501) is a galaxy with a spectrum extending to the highest energy gamma rays. It is a blazar or BL Lac object, which is an active galactic nucleus with a jet that is shooting towards the Earth. In the very-high-energy gamma ...

* NGC 821 * NGC 1023 * NGC 1097 * NGC 1271 *

NGC 1277 NGC 1277 is a lenticular galaxy in the constellation of Perseus. It is a member of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies and is located approximately 73 Mpc ( megaparsecs) or 220 million light-years from the Milky Way. It has an apparent magnitude o ...

* NGC 1332 *

NGC 1566 NGC 1566, sometimes known as the Spanish Dancer, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Dorado, positioned about 3.5° to the south of the star Gamma Doradus. It was discovered on May 28, 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop. ...

NGC 2787 NGC 2787 is a barred lenticular galaxy approximately 24 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Ursa Major. It was discovered on December 3, 1788 by German-born astronomer William Herschel. J. L. E. Dreyer described it as, ...

NGC 3079 NGC 3079 is a barred spiral galaxy about 50 million light-years away, and located in the constellation Ursa Major. A prominent feature of this galaxy is the "bubble" forming in the very center (see picture below). The supermassive black hole at ...

NGC 3115 NGC 3115 (also called the Spindle Galaxy or Caldwell 53) is a field lenticular (S0) galaxy in the constellation Sextans. The galaxy was discovered by William Herschel on February 22, 1787. At about 32 million light-years away from Earth, it is ...

NGC 3377 NGC 3377 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Leo. It is a member of the M96 Group and is about 26 Mly away, with a diameter of approximately 40 000 ly. The supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) i ...

NGC 3384 NGC 3384 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Leo. The galaxy was discovered by William Herschel in 1784 as part of the Herschel 400 Catalogue. The high age of the stars in the central region of NGC 3384 was confirmed after analysis of ...

* NGC 3998 *

NGC 4151 NGC 4151 is an intermediate spiral Seyfert galaxy with weak inner ring structure located from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy was first mentioned by William Herschel on March 17, 1787; it was one of the six Seyfert galax ...

NGC 4261 NGC 4261 is an elliptical galaxy located around 100 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered April 13, 1784 by the German-born astronomer William Herschel. The galaxy is a member of its own somewhat meager galaxy gro ...

* NGC 4438 * NGC 4459 * NGC 4473 * NGC 4486B (a satellite galaxy of

) * NGC 4564 *

NGC 4579 Messier 58 (also known as ''M58'' and ''NGC 4579'') is an intermediate barred spiral galaxy with a weak inner ring structure located within the constellation Virgo, approximately 68 million light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by C ...

* NGC 4596 *

NGC 4697 NGC 4697 (also known as Caldwell 52) is an elliptical galaxy some 40 to 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (constellation), Virgo. It is a member of the NGC 4697 Group, a group of galaxies also containing NGC 4731 and several ...

NGC 4889 NGC 4889 (also known as Caldwell 35) is an E4 supergiant elliptical galaxy. It was discovered in 1785 by the British astronomer William Herschel, Frederick William Herschel I, who catalogued it as a bright, nebulous patch. The brightest galaxy wi ...

* NGC 4945 *

NGC 5033 NGC 5033 is an inclined spiral galaxy located in the constellation Canes Venatici. Distance estimates vary from between 38 and 60 million light years from the Milky Way. The galaxy has a very bright nucleus and a relatively faint disk. Signifi ...

* NGC 6251 * NGC 7052 *

NGC 7314 NGC 7314 is a spiral galaxy located in the southern constellation of Piscis Austrinus. It was discovered by English astronomer John Herschel on July 29, 1834. This is a nearby Seyfert (active) galaxy, located at a distance of approximately f ...

* PKS 0521-365 * Q0906+6930 (a

blazar A blazar is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a relativistic jet (a jet composed of ionized matter traveling at nearly the speed of light) directed very nearly towards an observer. Relativistic beaming of electromagnetic radiation from the ...

organized around a supermassive black hole) * RX J1131 (first black hole whose spin was directly measured) *

Sagittarius A* Sagittarius A* ( ), abbreviated Sgr A* ( ), is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. It is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6° south of the ecliptic, vi ...

, which is in the center of the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

Types

Quasar A quasar is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a m ...

Supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical obj ...

Hypercompact stellar system A hypercompact stellar system (HCSS) is a dense cluster of stars around a supermassive black hole that has been ejected from the center of its host galaxy. Stars that are close to the black hole at the time of the ejection will remain bound to the ...

(hypothetical object organized around a supermassive black hole)

Intermediate-mass black holes and candidates

Cigar Galaxy Messier 82 (also known as NGC 3034, Cigar Galaxy or M82) is a starburst galaxy approximately 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It is the second-largest member of the M81 Group, with the Galaxy#Isophotal diameter, D25 i ...

(Messier 82, NGC 3034) * GCIRS 13E *

HLX-1 Hyper-Luminous X-ray source 1, commonly known as HLX-1, is an intermediate-mass black hole candidate located in the lenticular galaxy ESO 243-49 about 290 million light-years from Earth. The source was discovered at the Institut de Recherche ...

* M82 X-1 *

Messier 15 Messier 15 or M15 (also designated NGC 7078) is a globular cluster in the constellation Pegasus. It was discovered by Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746 and included in Charles Messier's catalogue of comet-like objects in 1764. At an estimated 12.5 ...

( NGC 7078) *

Messier 110 Messier 110, or M110, also known as NGC 205, is a dwarf elliptical galaxy that is a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy in the Local Group. Early observational history Charles Messier never included the galaxy in his list, but it was depicted ...

( NGC 205) *

Sculptor Galaxy The Sculptor Galaxy (also known as the Silver Coin, Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253, or Caldwell 65) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently underg ...

( NGC 253) *

Triangulum Galaxy The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. It is catalogued as Messier 33 or NGC (''New General Catalogue)'' 598. With the D25 isophotal diameter of , the Triangulum Galax ...

(

Messier 33 Messier may refer to: People with the surname *Charles Messier, French astronomer * Éric Messier, former NHL defenseman * George Messier, French inventor *Jean-Marie Messier, former CEO of Vivendi Universal *Marc Messier, Canadian actor from Quebe ...

, NGC 598)

Stellar black holes and candidates

* 1E1740.7-2942 (

Great Annihilator 1E1740.7-2942, or the Great Annihilator, is a Milky Way microquasar, located near the Galactic Center on the sky. It likely consists of a black hole and a companion star. It is one of the brightest X-ray sources in the region around the ...

), 340 ly from

Sgr A* Sagittarius A* ( ), abbreviated Sgr A* ( ), is the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. It is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6° south of the ecliptic, vi ...

* 4U 1543-475/ IL Lupi * A0620-00/V616 Mon (once thought to be the closest to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

known, at about 3,000

light years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

) * CXOU J132527.6-430023 (a candidate stellar mass black hole outside of the

Local Group The Local Group is the galaxy group that includes the Milky Way. It has a total diameter of roughly , and a total mass of the order of . It consists of two collections of galaxies in a "dumbbell" shape: the Milky Way and its satellites form ...

) *

Cygnus X-1 Cygnus X-1 (abbreviated Cyg X-1) is a galactic X-ray source in the constellation Cygnus and was the first such source widely accepted to be a black hole. It was discovered in 1964 during a rocket flight and is one of the ...

Cygnus X-3 Cygnus X-3 is a high-mass X-ray binary ( HMXB), one of the stronger binary X-ray sources in the sky. It is often considered to be a microquasar, and it is believed to be a compact object in a binary system which is pulling in a stream ...

* GRO J0422+32 (possibly the smallest

yet discovered) *

GRO J1655-40 GRO J1655-40 is a binary star consisting of an evolved F-type primary star and a massive, unseen companion, which orbit each other once every 2.6 days in the constellation of Scorpius. Gas from the surface of the visible star is accr ...

/ V1033 Sco (at one time considered the smallest

known) * GRS 1124-683/ GU Mus *

GRS 1915+105 GRS 1915+105 or V1487 Aquilae is an X-ray binary star system which features a regular star and a black hole. It was discovered on August 15, 1992 by the WATCH all-sky monitor aboard Granat. "GRS" stands for "GRANAT source", "1915" is the ...

/ V1487 Aql * GS 2000+25/ QZ Vul * GX 339-4/ V821 Ara * IGR J17091-3624 (candidate smallest known

stellar black hole A stellar black hole (or stellar-mass black hole) is a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a star. They have masses ranging from about 5 to several tens of solar masses. The process is observed as a hypernova explosion or as a gam ...

) * LB-1 (name of both a galactic

B-type star A B-type main-sequence star (B V) is a main-sequence (hydrogen-burning) star of spectral type B and luminosity class V. These stars have from 2 to 16 times the mass of the Sun and surface temperatures between 10,000 and 30,000 K. B-type star ...

and a very closely associated over-massive

stellar-mass black hole A stellar black hole (or stellar-mass black hole) is a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a star. They have masses ranging from about 5 to several tens of solar masses. The process is observed as a hypernova explosion or as a g ...

) * M33 X-7 (most massive

known, not counting GW black holes) * MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 (first known isolated stellar black hole) * SN 1997D (in NGC 1536) *

SS 433 SS 433 is one of the most exotic star systems observed. It is located in the Milky Way galaxy, and is an eclipsing X-ray binary system, with the primary being a stellar-mass black hole. The spectrum of the secondary companion star sugg ...

* V404 Cyg *

V Puppis V Puppis (V Pup) is a star system in the constellation Puppis. Its apparent magnitude is 4.41. There is a binary star system at the center with a B1 dwarf orbiting a B3 subgiant A subgiant is a star that is brighter than a normal ...

* XTE J1118+480/ KV UMa * XTE J1550-564/ V381 Nor * XTE J1650-500 (at one time considered the smallest black hole known) * XTE J1819-254/ V4641 Sgr

Black holes detected by gravitational wave signals

, 10 mergers of binary black holes have been observed. In each case two black holes merged to a larger black hole. In addition, one

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. white ...

merger has been observed (

GW170817 GW 170817 was a gravitational wave (GW) signal observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 17 August 2017, originating from the shell elliptical galaxy . The signal was produced by the last minutes of a binary pair of neutron stars' inspir ...

), forming a black hole. In addition, over 30 alerts have been issued since April 2019, of black hole merger candidates.

Multiple black hole systems

Binary black holes

* EGSD2 J142033.66 525917.5 core black holes — galaxy hosting a dual AGN *

OJ 287 OJ 287 is a BL Lac object 3.5 billion light-years from Earth that has produced quasi-periodic optical outbursts going back approximately 120 years, as first apparent on photographic plates from 1891. Seen on photographic plates since at least 18 ...

core black holes — a

BL Lac object A BL Lacertae object or BL Lac object is a type of active galactic nucleus (AGN) or a galaxy with such an AGN, named after its prototype, BL Lacertae. In contrast to other types of active galactic nuclei, BL Lacs are characterized by rapid and l ...

with a candidate binary supermassive black hole core system * PG 1302-102 – the first binary-cored quasar — a pair of supermassive black holes at the core of this quasar * SDSS J120136.02+300305.5 core black holes — a pair of supermassive black holes at the centre of this galaxy In addition, the signal of several binary black holes merging into a single black hole and in so doing producing

gravitational wave Gravitational waves are waves of the intensity of gravity generated by the accelerated masses of an orbital binary system that propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light. They were first proposed by Oliver Heaviside in 1 ...

s have been observed by the

LIGO The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large ...

instrument. These are listed above in the section Black holes detected by gravitational wave signals.

Trinary black holes

As of 2014, there are 5 triple black hole systems known. * SDSS J150243.09+111557.3 (SDSS J1502+1115) core black holes — the three components are distant tertiary J1502P, and the close binary pair J1502S composed of J1502SE and J1502SW * GOODS J123652.77+621354.7 core black holes of triple-clump galaxy * 2MASX J10270057+1749001 (SDSS J1027+1749) core black holes

References

External links

NASA's general description of black holes.

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