An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A → black hole with a mass in the range 3-30 → solar masses
representing the end-product of → massive star evolution. Since → neutron stars cannot have masses larger than 3 solar masses, compact objects more massive than this must be black holes. There is good observational evidence for the existence of stellar black holes, based in particular on dynamical measurements of the masses of compact objects in → transient X-ray sources. Same as → stellar-mass black hole.

See also: → stellar; → black; → hole.