The black hole is known as J2157, and there are more than 12 billion light years in the distant universe. Astronomers are trying to understand how these massive black holes could evolve during the early days of the universe. Researchers continue to search for more massive black holes like this to understand how they have grown.
“It is the largest black hole ever weighed in this early period of the Universe,” said Christopher Onken, lead author of the study and a researcher at the School of Astronomy and Astrophysics Research at the National University of Australia, in a statement. “We are looking at it at a time when the universe was only 1.2 billion years old, less than 10 percent of its current age.”
Dwarf the supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A * in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
“The mass of the black hole is approximately 8,000 times larger than the black hole at the center of the Milky Way,” said Onken. “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.”
The SkyMapper telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory at Australia’s National University was able to detect the black hole in its near-infrared light after traveling billions of light years to reach us on Earth.
Monstrous Force of Nature
Astronomers first discovered the black hole J2157 due to its brightness in ultraviolet light. While light cannot escape black holes, this black hole emits X-rays and ultraviolet light that are created due to its enormous appetite.
Astronomers have also defined this particular black hole as the brightest quasar known. Quasars are supermassive black holes in galaxies that emit so much energy through their gaseous disks that they look like stars through telescopes.
“This black hole is growing so fast that it shines thousands of times more than an entire galaxy, due to all the gases it absorbs on a daily basis that cause a lot of friction and heat,” said Christian Wolf, author of both in 2018. and new studies and associate professor at the National University of Australia, when the black hole was first discovered. two years ago.
“If we had this monster sitting in the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, it would appear 10 times brighter than a full moon. It would appear as an incredibly bright star that would almost eliminate all the stars in the sky.” “It would probably make life on Earth impossible with the huge amounts of X-rays emanating from it.”
The new study followed the black hole using the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile to measure its mass.
“We knew we were in a very massive black hole when we realized its rapid growth rate,” Fuyan Bian, co-author of the study and staff astronomer at the European Southern Observatory, said in a statement.
“The number of black holes they can swallow depends on the amount of mass they already have. So, for it to be devouring matter 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 from the start.
“With such a huge black hole, we are also excited to see what we can learn about the galaxy in which it is growing,” said Onken. “Is this galaxy one of the giants of the early Universe, or did the black hole swallow an extraordinary amount from its surroundings? We will have to keep digging to find out.”
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