Key facts
- Category
- Black holes
- Object class
- Ultramassive black hole candidate
- Host
- Phoenix Cluster
- Scale fact
- 590 billion kmevent horizon diameter
- Mass
- ~100 billion solar masses (model estimate)
Phoenix A*
590 billion kmevent horizon diameter
Visual creditscaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
Details
Phoenix A* is the central black hole candidate in the Phoenix Cluster, an extreme cool-core galaxy cluster where the active nucleus has not fully shut down star formation. Its often quoted horizon scale comes from a model-based mass estimate near 100 billion solar masses, not from a direct orbital measurement.
The Phoenix Cluster contains an active central galaxy in which rapid star formation continues despite energy released by the nucleus. A proposed black-hole mass near 100 billion solar masses comes from modeling the system’s growth and feedback, not from resolved stellar or gas orbits.
The 590-billion-kilometer horizon shown here is therefore a derived scale for a candidate, not a direct measurement. Phoenix A* marks the uncertain upper end of the catalog rather than a securely ranked largest black hole.
Links
- Editorial guides
- Universe journey
- Cosmic web
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- Phoenix A* on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Phoenix A* on the scale
Shared physical scale
451billion km
Sources
References for Phoenix A*
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Phoenix A* — Wikipedia
- Visual: scaleofspace.org / CC BY-NC 4.0
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.