Largest Ever Massive Black Holes With 34 Billion Times The Mass Of Our Sun Discovered
Recently, a stunning discovery has been announced, in which experts believe they have found the most massive black hole ever in the early Universe, having a mass of 34 billion times that of our Sun, while also consuming the equivalent of one Sun daily.
Dubbed ‘J2157’, the black hole was found back in 2018 by the same team of scientists. According to Dr. Christopher Onken and his colleagues, the monstrous black hole is around 8,000 times the mass of Sagittarius A*, the black hole centering the Milky Way.
“If the Milky Way’s black hole wanted to get fat, it would have to swallow two-thirds of all the stars in our galaxy,” explains Onken.
The object has been examined when the Universe was only 1.2 billion years old or 10% less than its current age, making it the biggest acknowledged pit in terms of mass ever measured in the early Universe.
“We knew we were with a very massive black hole when we realized its rapid growth rate,” says team member Dr. Fuyan Bian, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
“How much black holes can devour depends on how much mass they already have. For this object to be devouring matter at such a high rate, we thought it could become a new record holder. And now we know,” he says.
The team consisting of experts from the University of Arizona accurately calculated the black hole’s weight by employing ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
“With such an enormous black hole, we’re also excited to see what we can learn about the galaxy in which it’s growing,” Onken said.
A giant black hole at the heart of a quasar, J2157 was studied by astronomers mostly owing to observations conducted with the assist of the equally massive 10-meter Keck telescope in Hawaii and the 8-meter VLT in Chile.
The distance of the quasar, together with its general brightness were able to be worked out, allowing the astronomers to measure the hole’s size and the amount of matter it could feed on.
The black hole is massive; it measures approximately 200 billion kilometers across. Humongous, in fact, that if you replaced it with our Sun, it would encompass the entire solar system.
Source: Pinterest
Dubbed ‘J2157’, the black hole was found back in 2018 by the same team of scientists. According to Dr. Christopher Onken and his colleagues, the monstrous black hole is around 8,000 times the mass of Sagittarius A*, the black hole centering the Milky Way.
“If the Milky Way’s black hole wanted to get fat, it would have to swallow two-thirds of all the stars in our galaxy,” explains Onken.
The object has been examined when the Universe was only 1.2 billion years old or 10% less than its current age, making it the biggest acknowledged pit in terms of mass ever measured in the early Universe.
Source: Pinterest
“We knew we were with a very massive black hole when we realized its rapid growth rate,” says team member Dr. Fuyan Bian, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
“How much black holes can devour depends on how much mass they already have. For this object to be devouring matter at such a high rate, we thought it could become a new record holder. And now we know,” he says.
The team consisting of experts from the University of Arizona accurately calculated the black hole’s weight by employing ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
“With such an enormous black hole, we’re also excited to see what we can learn about the galaxy in which it’s growing,” Onken said.
Source: Pinterest
A giant black hole at the heart of a quasar, J2157 was studied by astronomers mostly owing to observations conducted with the assist of the equally massive 10-meter Keck telescope in Hawaii and the 8-meter VLT in Chile.
The distance of the quasar, together with its general brightness were able to be worked out, allowing the astronomers to measure the hole’s size and the amount of matter it could feed on.
The black hole is massive; it measures approximately 200 billion kilometers across. Humongous, in fact, that if you replaced it with our Sun, it would encompass the entire solar system.
Share this article
Advertisement