Scientists Just Found a Black Hole So Big It Shouldn’t Exist! – The Daily Galaxy –Great Discoveries Channel

Astronomers have just uncovered a monstrous black hole weighing an unfathomable 36 billion Suns—one of the largest ever detected. But how did it get so big, and why does it defy everything we thought we knew about black holes?A newly discovered ultra-massive black hole (UMBH), weighing an astonishing 36 billion times the mass of the Sun, is rewriting the rules of galaxy formation. Nestled within the Cosmic Horseshoe, a gravitational lensing system located 5.5 billion light-years away, this record-breaking black hole is among the largest ever observed. Its existence raises fundamental questions about how such behemoths form, evolve, and interact with their host galaxies.The Cosmic Horseshoe was first identified in 2007 and is known for its spectacular gravitational lensing effect. This phenomenon occurs when the light from a distant background galaxy is bent and magnified by the immense gravitational pull of a foreground galaxy. The foreground galaxy, known as LRG 3-757, plays a critical role in this discovery. Not only is it 100 times more massive than the Milky Way, but it also harbors one of the largest black holes ever recorded.The discovery was made possible by analyzing the way light is distorted around the galaxy. This distortion provided a unique opportunity to measure the black hole’s immense gravitational influence. The results were nothing short of staggering—this black hole is several times larger than most known supermassive black holes, including the one at the heart of our own Milky Way.Black holes are usually thought to follow a predictable relationship with their host galaxies, known as the MBH-sigma relation. This correlation suggests that the mass of a black hole should scale with the velocity of stars in the galaxy’s central bulge. However, in the case of LRG 3-757, this relationship does not hold. The black hole is far more massive than models predict, suggesting that it formed through an entirely different process.Lead researcher Carlos Melo-Carneiro from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul emphasized that such an enormous black hole forces scientists to rethink how galaxies and black holes evolve together. One possible explanation for the formation of this ultra-massive black hole is that LRG 3-757 is part of an ancient fossil galaxy group. Fossil groups are collections of galaxies where all smaller members have been consumed by a dominant central galaxy. This process, known as galaxy cannibalization, could have led to the accumulation of an unusually massive black hole over billions of years.Another hypothesis involves major galaxy mergers. When massive galaxies collide, their central black holes can merge over time, leading to a dramatic increase in mass. In these cases, the outer stars may be flung into intergalactic space, while the central black hole continues to grow. The lack of new star formation in LRG 3-757, often referred to as a “red and dead” galaxy, supports this theory.Additionally, active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback might have played a role. AGN feedback occurs when a black hole consumes matter and releases powerful jets of energy, disrupting star formation and altering the surrounding environment.The discovery of this 36-billion-solar-mass black hole is just the beginning. Upcoming telescopes, such as the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the Euclid space telescope, will allow scientists to study galactic motions and black hole interactions in even greater detail. These instruments could help determine whether LRG 3-757’s black hole formed naturally or through an extraordinary cosmic event. The Euclid mission, in particular, is expected to detect hundreds of thousands of gravitational lenses over the next five years.Comment Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

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