Scientists identify smallest black hole ever found

US:  NASA SCIENTISTS have identified the smallest black hole ever found - less than four times the mass of our Sun and about the size of a large city.

"This black hole is really pushing the limits. For many years astronomers have wanted to know the smallest possible size of a black hole, and this little guy is a big step toward answering that question," Nikolai Shaposhnikov of Nasa's space flight centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement.

It would likely be stronger than bigger black holes found at the centres of galaxies. Like other black holes, it was formed by a star that ran out of fuel and shut down, collapsing due to its own gravity. -(Reuters)

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