Scientists discover black hole five times size of sun

Scientists have revealed the spectroscopy news that a black hole, more than five time the size of the sun, has been discovered.

The finding was made by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC), who have been tracking the object since 1999, when it began to erupt.

Observations were made from the Gran Telescopio Canarias, which delivered the first spectroscopic data on the discovery.

The telescopes used spanned some ten metres in width, revealed astrophysicist at the IAC Jesus Corral Santana.

Only 20 stellar systems, out of over 5,000 in the Milky Way, are known to contain black holes.

Explaining that this new development will aid the study of the distribution of black holes, Mr Corral Santana adds: "The shape of this distribution has very important implications for our knowledge about the death of massive stars, the formation of black holes and the evolution of X-ray binary systems."

Last week, the moon reached its closest point to the Earth since 1992 - something that may have contributed to sales for laboratory equipment manufacturers.