General, Research, Technology

The largest black hole discovered in the center of a huge galaxy

How big do you think it can beblack hole? Recently, astronomers have discovered the largest black hole known to date - it is located in the center of the supermassive galaxy Abell 85, and its mass is 40 billion times the mass of the Sun. Researchers believe that the galaxy Abell 85 was formed as a result of collisions of at least eight smaller galaxies. This is due to the fact that in space there are places of supercluster of galaxies, where such collisions are not uncommon. The results of the study will be published in the journal Astrophysical Journal. The preprint of the work can be found here.

This is what the supercluster of galaxies Abell 85 looks like

How do monsters appear?

When two spiral galaxies - such as oursThe Milky Way and the nearby Andromeda galaxy - collide, they can unite and form an elliptical galaxy. In a dense medium, for example, in places where galaxies are clustered, these elliptical galaxies can again collide, forming an even larger elliptical galaxy. Their central black holes also merge to form larger black holes, which can eject a huge number of neighboring stars to the edges of a newly formed galaxy. As a result of such collisions and transformations, in very large elliptical galaxies there is usually not much gas for the formation of new stars, so its center looks pretty empty after a black hole throws away neighboring stars from itself. Astronomers call these huge elliptical galaxies "core galaxies." These amazing inhabitants of the cosmic depths are often found in the centers of clusters of galaxies.

By the way, not so long ago we told you about the collision of three galaxies at once. You can find even more news about amazing discoveries in the field of astronomy on our channel in Yandex.Zen

By the way, Stephen Hawking did not rule out that black holes could be a portal to other universes.

The authors of a new study found that Holm15A - a huge galaxy in the center of its cluster of galaxies (Abell 85) must have formed as a result of another merger of two already huge elliptical galaxies. This means that Holm 15A is a combination of at least eight spiral galaxies that have collided and merged for billions of years. This series of mergers created a black hole in the heart of the galaxy. A monster about the size of our solar system, and its mass exceeds the mass of 40 billion suns.

This is interesting: What is between the galaxies?

Huge black holes can reveal the secret of quasars

Scientists are very encouraged to discoverthe largest black hole ever known. The fact is that thanks to the results obtained, in the future astronomers will be able to better understand quasars - the class of the brightest astronomical objects, including distant galaxies in the center of which are massive black holes. These space monsters emit a huge amount of light in the process of absorption of nearby objects. Researchers believe that some of the quasars farthest from us can be so bright that black holes should exist in their centers, exceeding the mass of our Sun by more than 10 billion times. The discovery of such a large black hole in the center of the supercluster of galaxies confirms the idea of ​​how quasars and elliptical galaxies appear. Recall that in September, NASA published a video that details the everyday life of one of the most mysterious space objects.