"I still wonder though how much of a pull would a smaller mass formation like this have on a planet that is much greater then it's own size and even greater then it's own mass??"

# Jordan Lapp Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 3:35 pm

"Even Super Jovian Class planets are smalled than 1 solar mass. It would be impossible to get a planet as large at 3.8 solar masses."

Exactly. Anything more massive than about 80 times the mass of Jupiter (very roughly 1/12 solar masses) will be able to sustain nuclear fusion in it's core and become a Red Dwarf star. So a planet, in the sense that we define them, could not become 'greater' than the size of this newly discovered black hole.

However, we could imagine this black hole in orbit around our Sun or another star, in which case there would definitely be a significant gravitational effect. In fact, at 3.8 Ms, it would whip our Sun quite significantly, and depending on the separation of the two objects, may accrete matter from it too… It all depends on the relative mass and separation of the black hole and any object it is near.

"Is there any way to even begin calculating this and would this effect the mass of the black hole in any way??"

There are well defined equations that we can use in such circumstances to calculate such things as the orbital parameters of the system and the particulars of the accretion of mass by the black hole, and the list goes on…