# Can the WISE telescope detect black holes?

Black holes are hot, aren't they? With its infrared scan, could the WISE telescope also detect a black hole? The hypothetical planet beyond the Kuiper belt could actually be a primordial black hole. The WISE telescope might already have imaged the object but could it have done it also if it is a black hole?

• You can find a black hole's temperature & other vital statistics using the Hawking radiation calculator. Note that the temperature is very low and the luminosity is tiny, unless the black hole has a very small mass. – PM 2Ring Feb 13 at 8:41
• @PM2Ring Thank you – user30007 Feb 13 at 8:50
• The above comment isn't deleted but mine has been as I thanked uhoh. – Ioannes Jul 15 at 7:28

EDIT: Just to prevent any confusion. "Naked" black holes are hypothesisd (but not yet observed) to produce Hawking radiation. Planet X, if it exists, is thought to be about ten times the mass of the Earth. Such a black hole would have an event horizon about 20 cm in diameter and would emit Hawking radiation with a luminosity of $$10^{-20}$$ Watts at a blackbody temperature of around 0.002 K. This is not going to emit any detectable infrared radiation.