Discovery of a black hole 30 billion times larger than the mass of the Sun

A research team from the University of Durham has used gravitational lensing to detect super black holes located billions of light years from Earth..

Astronomers have discovered one of the largest black holes ever discovered, around 30 billion times the mass of the Sun, using Albert Einstein’s prediction of gravitational lensing. The massive black hole lies 2.7 billion light years from Earth in the brightest galaxy in the Abell 1201 clusterrevealed because the background galaxy’s curved dome of light was stretched and blurred by its enormous gravity.

The black hole simulation distorts the space-time field.

Simulating a black hole distorts the space-time field. (Photo: ESA/Hubble).

Monster black hole exist “roughly the upper limit of the magnitude estimated by astronomers”. It may be the first of many similar black holes in the universe that the research team can detect in the night sky using new techniques. The search for supermassive black holes is only the first step in calculating the possible size of black holes, according to a paper published March 28 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Einstein’s theory of general relativity describes these Massive objects distort the space-time field how. Einstein suggested that gravity is not a force but the result of the curvature of space-time caused by the uneven distribution of mass. This curve determines how energy and matter move. According to one of the most famous predictions of general relativity, light from a distant galaxy is bent by the gravity of a giant object in front, called a Einstein ring. Astronomers can use it effect called gravitational lensing This involves detecting faint celestial objects that could not otherwise be observed.

“Most of the largest black holes we know of are in an active state, in which matter attracted near the black hole heats up and releases energy in the form of light, X-rays and other radiation.” said study co-author James Nightingale, an astrophysicist at the University of Durham, England. “However, gravitational lensing allows us to study dormant black holes (black holes that do not eat and therefore do not produce light).”

After seeing The dome of light curves around the inactive black hole, the team used information about how it stretches light to determine the size of the black hole. By combining high-resolution images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the DiRAC COSMA8 supercomputer, the researchers simulated how big a black hole would have to be to bend light that far. They discovered a black hole 30 billion times larger than the mass of the Sun and about 8,000 times larger than the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The largest black hole ever discovered is 66 billion times more massive than the Sun.

According to Nightingale, studying giant black holes in this way can help scientists understand how black holes grow to incredible sizes as well as their impact on the evolution of the universe.

Article source: VnExpress