Black holes are regions of space-time that arise when massive stars collapse into each other at the end of their life cycle and can continue to grow by taking up stars and merging with other black holes. With this interaction, scientists can identify their presence, as electromagnetic radiation is emitted as visible light across space. Astronomers have identified a number of stellar candidates for black holes in binary systems and found that the radio source, known as Sagittarius A *, at the core of the Milky Way galaxy, contains a supermassive black hole of about 4.3 million solar masses.
Most recently, they turned their attention to black hole, known as J2157, which exists more than 12 billion light-years back in the distant universe and dwarfs the black hole at the center of our galaxy.
According to a study published in the journal ‘Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society’, this black hole on a meal celebrates the equivalent of the Sun every day.
Astronomers are trying to understand how such massive black holes could have evolved in the early days of the universe.
Christopher Onken, who led the study, said: “It is the largest black hole that has been weighed in this early period of the universe.
“We see it at a time when the universe was only 1.2 billion years old, less than 10 percent of its current age.
“The mass of the black hole is about 8,000 times larger than the black hole in the center of the Milky Way.
“If the black hole of the Milky Way wanted to grow that fat, it would have to inject two-thirds of all the stars in our galaxy.”
The researchers continue to look for massive black holes like these to understand how they have grown.
Astronomers first discovered the J2157 black hole in 2018 because of its brightness in ultraviolet light.
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Although light cannot escape from black holes, this black hole emits X-rays and ultraviolet light generated due to its enormous appetite.
Christian Wolf, an author on both the 2018 and new study, added in July: “This black hole is growing so fast that it shines thousands of times brighter than an entire galaxy, because of all the gases it sucks daily that causes a lot of friction and heat.
“If we sat this monster at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, it would appear 10 times lighter than a full moon.
‘It would appear like an incredibly bright pin-point star that would wash almost every star in the sky.
“It would probably make life on Earth impossible with the enormous amount of X-rays.
The recent study followed on the black hole by using the Very Large Telescope of European Southern Observatory in Chile to measure its mass.
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Study co-author Fuyan Bian said, “We knew we were on a very massive black hole when we realized it was rapid growth.
“How many black holes can swing depends on how much mass they already have.
“So, to pollute this case at such a high rate, we thought it could become a new record holder and now we know.”
Further study and observation of this black hole will also shed light on its host galaxy, which may reveal more information about the early universe and how massive black holes evolved early.
Dr Onken added: “With such an enormous black hole, we are also excited to see what we can learn about the galaxy in which it is growing.
“Is this galaxy one of the behemoths of the early universe, or is the black hole just swallowing up an extraordinary amount of its surroundings?”
“We’ll have to keep digging to find out.”
