Scientists at Durham University in the UK have confirmed that the newly found black hole is one of the largest ever discovered. The research team described the discovery as “extremely exciting” when announcing their findings in the Monthly Notices journal of the Royal Astronomical Society.
“This black hole has a mass of approximately 30 billion times that of the Sun, making it one of the largest black holes ever discovered, surpassing the theoretical limits we had in mind for the size of a black hole. It is truly a fascinating discovery,” said Dr. James Nightingale, the leader of the research team at Durham University’s Department of Physics, as quoted by The Guardian.
Supermassive black holes are among the largest entities in the universe, with masses ranging from 10 billion to 40 billion times that of the Sun. According to astronomers, these black holes are often found at the centers of large galaxies, such as the Milky Way – which contains our Solar System.
Scientists discovered this black hole using a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, where a neighboring galaxy acts as a massive magnifying glass, revealing the presence of the black hole – a region with such strong gravitational pull that even light cannot escape.
This is also the largest supermassive black hole ever found using the gravitational lensing method.
Supermassive black holes are very rare and challenging to detect. Some experts believe that these black holes could have formed from the merging of large galaxies billions of years ago, during the early stages of the universe.
The research team used simulations on supercomputers at the university and images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope to confirm the size of the black hole.
“The largest black holes we know of are actively feeding. Matter drawn close to a black hole heats up and releases energy in the form of light, X-rays, and other radiations,” Dr. Nightingale explained.
“However, the gravitational lensing method allows us to study even dormant black holes, which is currently impossible in distant galaxies. This approach helps us discover more black holes further away from our current galaxies and reveals additional insights into the development of these extragalactic entities,” he added.
The researchers also believe that their discovery opens up a new challenge, as now the astronomy community knows that they will be able to find more black holes than they previously thought.