a stellar black hole (or stellar mass black hole) is a black hole formed by the gravitational collapse of a massive star. they have masses ranging from about 5 to several tens of solar masses. the process is observed as a hypernova explosion or as a gamma ray burst. these black holes are also referred to as collapsars. ==properties== by the no-hair theorem, a black hole can only have three fundamental properties: mass, electric charge and angular momentum (spin). it is believed that black holes formed in nature all have spin, but no definite observation on the spin has been performed. the spin of a stellar black hole is due to the conservation of angular momentum of the star that produced it. the collapse of a star is a natural process that can produce a black hole. it is inevitable at the end of the life of a star, when all stellar energy sources are exhausted. if the mass of the collapsing part of the star is below the tov limit for neutron-degenerate matter, the end product is a compact star, either a white dwarf or a neutron star or a (hypothetical) quark star. all of these stars have a maximum mass. so if the collapsing star has a mass exceeding this limit, the collapse will continue forever (catastrophic gravitational collapse) and form a black hole. the maximum mass of a neutron star is not well known. in 1939, it was estimated at 0.7 solar masses, called the tov limit. in 1996, a different estimate put this upper mass in a range from 1.5 to 3 solar masses.. in the theory of general relativity, a black hole could exist of any mass. the lower the mass, the higher the density of matter has to be in order to form a black hole. (see, for example, the discussion in schwarzschild radius, the radius of a black hole.) there are no known processes that can produce black holes with mass less than a few times the mass of the sun. if they exist, they are most likely primordial black holes. the largest known stellar black hole (as of 2007) is 15.65Â±1.45 solar masses.nature 449, 799â801 (18 october 2007) additionally, there is evidence that the ic 10 x-1 x-ra
Black_holes Star_types Stellar_black_holes Stellar_phenomena