Do black holes grow?

Yes they do!

They grow by accreting matter that falls into them (it doesn't get sucked into a black hole!). Stellar-mass black holes (black holes with the sun's mass or perhaps up to 50 times as much) can double their mass by accreting material from a companion star. Supermassive black holes may grow by absorbing millions of stars over the course of billions of years.


Return to Ask the Astronomer