New York: Astronomers have discovered what they claim is the smallest and lightest known black hole which has amazing tidal force. Using a new method, they have identified the black hole which has a mass only about 3.8 times greater than Sun and a diameter of only 15 miles - it resides in a Milky Way Galaxy binary system known as XTE J1650-500,the NASA said.

"This black hole is pushing the limits. For many years astronomers have wanted to know the smallest possible size of a black hole and this little guy's a big step toward answering that question," lead astronomer Nikolai Shaposhnikov of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, said.

According to the astronomers, smaller black holes like the one in J1650 exert stronger tidal forces than the larger black holes found in the centres of galaxies, which make the little guys more dangerous to approach. "If you ventured too close to J1650's black hole, its gravity would tidally stretch your body into a strand of spaghetti," Shaposhnikov said.

Source : PTI