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Black hole calculator: Schwarzschild radius, Hawking temperature

Pick a mass, from an asteroid to TON 618, and see the horizon size, Hawking temperature, lifetime and information content of the matching black hole.

Updated 8 October 2026

Examples

The Sun will never become a black hole: it is too light.

Horizon radius
2.95 km
Diameter 5.91 km, about the size of the city of Paris
Hawking temperature
6.17 × 10⁻⁸ K
colder than the cosmic microwave background (2.7 K): it absorbs more than it emits
Evaporation lifetime
2.1 × 10⁶⁷ years
1.5 × 10⁵⁷ times the age of the Universe
Entropy (maximum information)
1.51 × 10⁷⁷ bits
Spaghettification (100 g over 2 m)
Outside the horizon
at 810 km from the centre, well outside the horizon: you would be destroyed before entering.
Tide at the horizon (2 m body)
2.1 × 10⁹ g
From horizon to singularity
15.5 µs
Mean density
1.84 × 10¹⁹ kg/m³
1.84 × 10¹⁶ times the density of water

Lifetime computed with photon emission only; including other particles shortens it somewhat.

The formulas used

They all follow from three fundamental constants, G, c and ħ, and the mass M. No other data is needed: one of the most striking properties of black holes.

rs = 2GM / c²
Horizon radius (Schwarzschild, 1916)
TH = ħc³ / (8πGMkB)
Hawking temperature (1974)
t ≈ 5120 π G² M³ / (ħ c⁴)
Evaporation lifetime, photons only
S = kB c³ A / (4Għ)
Bekenstein-Hawking entropy, with A = 4πr_s² the horizon area
Go deeperAssumptions and limits
  • An isolated black hole with no spin or electric charge (Schwarzschild solution).
  • The lifetime counts photon emission only and ignores the matter the black hole swallows and the cosmic background it absorbs.
  • The tide uses the Newtonian formula 2GML/r³, a good approximation at the horizon.
  • Masses of real black holes are central values, with their published uncertainties.

To visualise these sizes, try the size comparison.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum mass of a black hole?

Theory sets no strict minimum, apart from the Planck mass (about 22 micrograms) below which it no longer applies. Black holes formed by stars weigh at least about 3 solar masses; lighter black holes could only be primordial.

Why express entropy in bits?

A black hole's entropy measures the maximum amount of information it can hold. Divided by ln 2, it is expressed in bits, like computer memory: about 10⁷⁷ bits for one solar mass.

Do the results hold for a spinning black hole?

This calculator uses the Schwarzschild solution, with no spin or charge. For a fast-spinning black hole the horizon is up to half as large and the temperature lower, but the orders of magnitude stay the same.

Sources