New research led by the Australian National University (ANU) has shown just how enormous the fastest-growing black hole in the Universe actually is, as well as showing just how big its appetite is.
If you thought our sun was big, this black hole is 34 billion times the mass of it and gorges on nearly the equivalent of one sun every day, according to Dr Christopher Onken and his colleagues.
โThe black holeโs mass is also about 8,000 times bigger than the black hole in the centre of the Milky Way,โ Dr Onken said.
โIf the Milky Wayโs black hole wanted to grow that fat, it would have to swallow two-thirds of all the stars in our Galaxy.โ
This giant black hole โ known as J2157 – was discovered by the same research team in 2018.
โWeโre seeing it at a time when the universe was only 1.2 billion years old, less than 10% of its current age,โ Dr Onken said.
โItโs the biggest black hole thatโs been weighed in this early period of the Universe.โ
Exactly how black holes grew so big so early in the lifespan of the Universe is still a mystery, but the team is now searching for more black holes in the hope they might provide some clues.
โWe knew we were onto a very massive black hole when we realised its fast growth rate,โ said team member Dr Fuyan Bian, a staff astronomer at the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
โHow much black holes can swallow depends on how much mass they already have.
โSo, for this one to be devouring matter at such a high rate, we thought it could become a new record holder. And now we know.โ
The team, including researchers from the University of Arizona, used ESOโs Very Large Telescope in Chile to accurately measure the black holeโs mass.
โWith such an enormous black hole, weโre also excited to see what we can learn about the galaxy in which itโs growing,โ Dr Onken said.
โIs this galaxy one of the behemoths of the early Universe, or did the black hole just swallow up an extraordinary amount of its surroundings? Weโll have to keep digging to figure that out.โ
The research has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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