Researchers are ‘extremely excited’ to have discovered an ‘ultramassive’ black hole hidden in the depths of the universe.
Scientists from Durham University have claimed that the recently-unearthed black hole is hundreds of millions of light-years away and weighs a staggering 30 billion times more than the mass of our sun. So very heavy, then.
According to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the black hole in question is one of the biggest on record.
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Lead study author Dr James Nightingale of the Department of Physics at Durham University said: “This particular black hole, which is roughly 30 billion times the mass of our sun, is one of the biggest ever detected [in space].
“[It is] on the upper limit of how large we believe black holes can theoretically become, so it is an extremely exciting discovery."
To gauge the size of the black hole, scientists studied it via a phenomenon called gravitational lensing — a practice which sees researchers probing the distribution of matter and thus enabling observations of faraway universes.
Using this technique, Dr Nightingale and his team then turned to the Hubble Space Telescope to confirm how big the ultramassive black hole really was.
Upon thorough inspection, it’s thought that the black hole is over 30 billion times bigger than our sun, which has a radius of 696,340 km. So yeah, the ‘ultramassive’ label it has been given is definitely justified.
Dr Nightingale said: “Most of the biggest black holes that we know are in an active state, where matter pulled in close to the black hole heats up and releases energy in the form of light, X-rays, and other radiation.
“However, gravitational lensing makes it possible to study inactive black holes, something not currently possible in distant galaxies.
“This approach could let us detect many more black holes beyond our local universe and reveal how these exotic objects evolved further back in cosmic time,” he added.
At the time of writing, it’s said that this recent discovery is the first black hole scientists have found using gravitational lensing.
Now the technique has resulted in success, it’s expected more scientists will be using it from now on.
Earlier this month, astronomers revealed they had captured an image of a powerful jet being launched from a black hole.
The recent findings were published in a study titled ‘A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet’ in the journal Nature.
Regarding the image, lead study author Ru-Sen Lu, an astronomer at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China, said: “We know that jets are ejected from the region surrounding black holes, but we still do not fully understand how this happens.”
Further research into jets emitted by black holes and discovering more ultramassive black holes is reportedly ongoing.
Topics: Space, Technology, Black Hole
Ella Scott