Astronomers Detect Black Hole 36 Billion Times the Sun’s Mass, Among Largest Ever Found

Astronomers have measured the weight of a huge black hole — 36 billion times the mass of our sun, or six times the size of our entire solar system — in an old and dead galaxy near Earth. This cosmic monster resides in one of the largest galaxies of the Cosmic Horseshoe, holds it top 10 largest black holes ever, and possibly No. Instead, it was spotted through the enormous gravity that warps the light and stars near it, not from X-ray emissions. It provides a very rare glimpse into the early stages of black hole formation and its impact on the speed at which massive galaxies grow.

Einstein Horseshoe Reveals Hidden 36-Billion-Solar-Mass Black Hole in Fossil Galaxy System

According to a statement from the University of Portsmouth, by measuring the gravitational lensing of light into an “Einstein horseshoe” caused by a background galaxy and also from the motions of stars orbiting the black hole (which are moving nearly 400 km/s), they estimated the mass of this black hole in detail; this direct approach can locate other missing ultramassive central supermassive black holes throughout the universe – including dormant, non-accreting ones.

The upshot: galaxy clusters eventually turn into lifeless fossil groups once their galaxy mergers cease (a prerequisite for quenching star formation), and what remains of gas or stars flung during cluster formation are sucked into the mammoth, central galaxies in the middle of these hubs. He idea: The neighbouring partner galaxies to these far-off universes are dead, and just this mammoth remains since it ate all the seeds from its forerunner pal.

But what we do know is that, in the distant past, galaxies built up through mergers over time. And when we see galaxies tens of thousands to millions/millions of years after they formed, we would always expect the event to simply be too old for a typical TeV-level event and would, in any case, no longer be active.

The research, published August 7 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, could refine understanding of how black holes and galaxies co-evolve and offer a glimpse into the Milky Way's far-future fate when it eventually merges with Andromeda.