The Nation - News from July 27, 1987

Astronomers have concluded that massive, energy-sucking black holes are at the centers of two of the Milky Way’s neighboring galaxies, designated as M31 and M32, findings that indicate the masses could force the eventual collapse of these star systems. The researchers said their conclusions, announced by the National Science Foundation and other institutions, are based on telescope observations and new computations of masses and velocities within the galaxies. Black holes are concentrations of matter so dense that they have collapsed upon themselves and nothing, not even light, can escape their intense gravitational pull.