What are stellar-mass black holes, and how are they different from supermassive black holes?
Stellar-mass black holes are the compressed remains of giant, exploding stars called supernovas. These compact, gravitational powerhouses keep everything, including light, from escaping their stranglehold. Supermassive black holes, as their name implies, are monsters. They are millions to billions of times more massive than the Sun and are believed to reside at the hearts of most galaxies. Scientists aren’t sure how they first formed, but they believe that these massive “eating machines” were created during the early universe. Stellar-mass black holes, on the other hand, can form at any time. Supermassive black holes are easier to detect because scientists know where to look: the centers of galaxies. All black holes, by their very nature, are invisible. But scientists hunting for supermassive black holes probe the centers of galaxies, looking for how the suspected monsters gravitationally influence the stars and dust near the cores. 2. Explain the technique astronomers use to find the
