The biggest black hole ever discovered

Astronomers bring us news of the largest black hole ever observed by science. Fortunately, the massive black hole is in a very distant galaxy. More than 700 million light years to be more exact. Which is another statistic to remember.

Observing Holm 15A

The galaxy that holds the black hole has been called Holm 15A. It is part of a galaxy cluster called Abell 85 in the constellation Cetus. The galaxy is the brightest of the visible mass of the northern and southern hemispheres.

The Hubble Space Telescope has allowed scientists to study celestial bodies so far away from the Earth. The launch took place in 1990, ending the previous limitations of astronomers. The newly built giant ground telescopes have validated the strangeness of the galaxy and its black hole.

Mystery inside

Scientists studying extraterrestrial physics do not understand why Holm 15A can be so big and have a fairly weak central diffuse region. So the mystery was that a nucleus is dark and the rest of the galaxy shines brightly.

The very large telescope in Chile contributed to the mysterious galaxy. Scientists have constructed a map that details the structure of the galaxy using telescope data. Using as much data as possible, several simulations were performed.

The scientists wanted to discover the mystery of the dark nucleus of Holm 15A. The simulations aimed to trace the formation of the galaxy to find the answer. The researchers discovered that Holm 15A was formed following a collision between two young galaxies near the beginning of the universe.

Black hole size and power

It is thought that the collision caused the formation of a supermassive black hole. This phenomenon had either the power to absorb many of the inner stars of the galaxy, or to expel them to the edge of the formation. Cause a dead inner core that seems to have neither light nor life.

The massive black hole had the power to do so because of its size. To put things in perspective, the black hole in the center of the Milky Way is 4 million times larger than the Sun. The black hole in the center of Holm 15A is 40 billion times larger than the Sun. And the sun is 1.3 million times the size of the Earth.

Bo has more than six years of experience as a teacher, lawyer and lecturer. He has a B.S. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Human Rights from Graduate University of Harvard.