A black hole located in the binary system of XTE J1650-500 in the Milky Way Galaxy has been identified to be the smallest in existence. Nikolai Shaposhnikov and Lev Titarchuk, the two NASA scientists who have the discovered the dwarfed black hole, found that it possesses just 3.8 times more mass than our own Sun, and its diameter doesn't extend farther than 15 miles from the center.

The previous record holder for being the smallest gravity sink was the black hole at GRO 1655-40. That one had a mass equivalent to 6.3 Suns. The one at XTE J1650-500, however, holds very close to the theorized 1.7 to 2.7 Sun mass requirement - the same one that scientists predict as the mass before neutron stars - the alleged final state of dead stars - further transition into black holes.

The XTE J1650-500 black hole is small, but it's also terrible. According to Shaposhnikov, smaller black holes emit stronger tidal forces than the largest ones, and he says, "If you ventured too close to J1650’s black hole, its gravity would tidally stretch your body into a strand of spaghetti." Yikes. Pasta anyone?

Images courtesy of NASA.