Astronomers have discovered a massive black hole, around 36.3 billion times the mass of our Sun, deep within the galaxy SDSS J1148+1930, which is located approximately 5 billion light-years away. This newly found behemoth surpasses the previous record for most massive supermassive black holes and challenges current understanding of how these cosmic giants form.
According to astrophysicist Thomas Collett, this discovery places the black hole’s mass “very close to the practical upper limit” of 50 billion solar masses, which is the theoretical maximum size a black hole could achieve within the current 13.8-billion-year lifespan of the Universe. The team used a new method to determine the black hole’s mass, taking advantage of the rare cosmic alignment known as the Cosmic Horseshoe.
This phenomenon occurs when a galaxy and a more distant light source align in such a way that the former’s gravitational field warps and magnifies the latter’s light, creating a horseshoe-shaped smear around a central glowing blob. By analyzing this effect, the researchers were able to estimate the mass of the foreground black hole.
The discovery is significant because it provides insights into the formation of supermassive black holes, which are thought to reside at the centers of every full-sized galaxy. The team believes that the newly discovered black hole may have formed through the merger of smaller galaxies, each with their own supermassive black hole.
This finding has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is considered one of the most significant discoveries in recent years.
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/36-billion-suns-record-black-hole-discovery-could-be-as-big-as-they-get