Largest black hole ever discovered; size of 12 billion suns

John Hopton for redOrbit.com – @Johnfinitum

The largest and most luminous black hole ever seen has been discovered, with a mass about 12 billion times that of the sun. Age can be added to the mind-blowing status of this supermassive black hole, as it dates back to when the universe was less than 900 million years old; just 6 percent of its current age of 13.8 billion years.

Challenges theory

Astronomers say that the black hole is so big that it calls into question the existing theory about how they grow. Fuyan Bian, from the Australian National University (ANU)’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, told Reuters that: “Based on previous research, this is the largest black hole found for that period of time. Current theory is for a limit to how fast a black hole can grow, but this black hole is too large for that theory.”

It was thought that the ability of black holes to grow is limited. This is because they grow as they absorb mass, yet as that mass is absorbed it will be heated, creating radiation pressure, which in turn pushes the mass away from the black hole. “Basically, you have two forces balanced together which sets up a limit for growth, which is much smaller than what we found,” said Bian.

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The black hole was discovered by a team of global scientists at Peking University, China, as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which provided imagery data of 35 percent of the northern hemisphere sky. Findings were published this month in the journal Nature. The ANU is leading a similar project, known as SkyMapper, to carry out observations of the Southern Hemisphere sky.

According to Space.com, the largest black holes found so far in the nearby universe have masses more than 10 billion times that of the sun. In comparison, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is thought to have a mass only 4 million to 5 million times that of the sun.

What about that luminosity?

The gravitational pull of black holes is so great that even light cannot escape it. However, Space.com explains that: “black holes are often bright. That’s because they’re surrounded by features known as accretion disks, which are made up of gas and dust that heat up and give off light as it swirl into the black holes.”

Astronomers believe that quasars, the brightest objects in the universe, contain supermassive black holes that release phenomenally large amounts of light as they rip apart stars. The light from very distant quasars can take billions of years to reach Earth, and therefore astronomers can see quasars as they were when the universe was in its infancy.

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It is thought that light from this black hole could help provide clues about the dark corners of space. Lead study author Xue-Bing Wu explains that as a quasar’s light shines toward Earth, it passes through intergalactic gas that colors the light. By deducing how this intergalactic gas influenced the spectrum of light from the quasar, scientists can determine which elements make up this gas. This knowledge can then tell us something about the star-formation processes that occurred shortly after the Big Bang that produced the elements.

“This quasar is the most luminous one in the early universe, which, like a lighthouse, will provide us chances to use it as a unique tool to study the cosmic structure of the dark, distant universe,” Wu said.

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This black hole is known in technical terms as SDSS J010013.02+280225.8, but is referred to as the much catchier J0100+2802. What the names lack in inspiration, the singularity more than makes up for. If society sometimes forgets the traditional definition of the word “awesome” – this is it.

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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113341854/largest-black-hole-ever-discovered-size-of-12-billion-suns-022615/