What is the difference between a black hole and a supermassive black hole?

1 Answer
Phillip E.
Jan 3, 2016

Supermassive black holes are many times larger than other black holes.

Explanation:

A black hole is typically formed when a suitably large star collapses under gravity. They are typically 10s of solar masses.

A supermassive black hole is of the order of many thousands of solar masses. They are thought to exist at the centres of most galaxies. They have such large masses that they must be the result of black holes merging and consuming vast amounts of material.

Related questions
See all questions in Life and Death of Stars
Impact of this question
1908 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License