How many black holes are there in the Milky Way and why are there so many different scientific estimates?

I don’t think we know in any meaningful way.

This is really not surprising when you consider how little we do know. In our lifetimes that number of planets in our own solar system has changed a whole bunch of times.

Personally, I would not trust any current estimates, because we don’t have the kind of instrumentation and exploration data needed to make a solid estimate yet.

@Marina – We’ve got plenty of telescopes and good models of how stars work. I find it surprising that we know the age of the universe, the rough number of galaxies in the universe, the rough number of stars in the Milky Way, but not the number of black holes. We also know a lot of about supermassive black holes in other galaxies and ours. But maybe you’re right about better instrumentation and exploration data that is needed.

@mattbrowne Then too, it is not clear to me that our speculations about the nature of black holes are completely valid. With the recent acknowledgment of dark matter, I wonder what role that might play in the black hole dynamic? Some scientists suggest it cannot be swallowed by black holes. Others that dark matter forms a large portion of the massive black holes at the center of our galaxy.

@Marina – Well, maybe the LHC will create neutralinos. It’s my understanding that black holes would swallow neutralinos if they exist.

ditto

When I first read the first few words of the title, I was thinking chocolate, and wondering what kind of black holes there were in a Milky Way chocolate bar. Bits of dark chocolate, perhaps? Tiny pieces of licorice?

Maybe there are none: Black Stars.

the fact that they are arguing tells me that they are very creative and each of them is smart enough to sustain it’s theory.This is the process of science:a theory has to fight its way to the top.This always happen when new things are proposed.

Previously I was under the impression that there was only one, in the center of our galaxy.

You have to remember though, black holes can never be observed, only their effects. We can only guess as to their existence. I have actually read a few papers proposing that black holes do not exists at all.

I don’t know how many black holes are in it but I do know it’s loaded with caramel.

As @jackm said, black holes cannot be observed directly. The reason they can’t accurately calculate how many black holes there are is because they are still having trouble getting concrete information about them. No form of information can come from the black hole because not even light can escape it. If light can’t escape it, there won’t be much information there. All they can do is look to see what is happening around a “suspected” black hole, and even then, it’s just speculation.

@daloon – I love dark chocolate and eating it in moderate quantities is supposed to be very healthy. I wouldn’t eat it near a black hole though.

@ratboy – The article is for subscribers only. I read this though

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Star_(semiclassical_gravity)

Interesting concept I haven’t heard of yet. Thanks for mentioning it. Does this have anything to do with Lee Smolin’s atoms of space cocept (part of his look quantum gravity hypothesis). He postulates a minimum volume of space below the Planck length. Would this prohibit a singularity from forming?

@jackm – Well, if we count the places where we can observe the effects? Besides we know the number of stars that are too heavy to form a stable neutron star. I’m really hoping for some number like 1000, or a million.