To discover the new supermassive black hole, astronomers at Durham University in the UK used the gravitational lensing effect combined with a supercomputer to identify the black hole in Abell 1201, 2.7 billion light years from Earth. This is also one of the largest black holes ever discovered, according to Live Science.
The supermassive black hole is located inside the brightest galaxy in the Abell 1201 galaxy cluster. The galaxy that hosts the black hole is also affected by the object's gravitational field.
Simulation of a black hole warping space-time. (Photo: ESA/Hubble)
To hunt for the black hole in Abell 1201, in addition to technological equipment, the group of astronomers also used the theory of relativity of the genius scientist Albert Einstein to determine the existence of supermassive black holes - objects that can bend the space-time field where they appear.
According to the team leader, Dr. James Nightingale, most of the largest black holes known to man are in an active state, where matter drawn in close to the black hole heats up and releases energy in the form of light. The gravitational lensing effect allows archaeologists to study and detect black holes that are inactive (not producing energy and not emitting light).
After discovering a distorted arc of light around a non-existent black hole, researchers used information about how the object stretches the light around it to reconstruct the size of the black hole.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the DiRAC COSMA8 supercomputer, researchers simulated the mass of a black hole based on the light it bends.
In this way, Dr. Nightingale's team was able to determine the size of the supermassive black hole at Abell 1201 – 30 billion times the mass of the Sun – in our Milky Way galaxy (the total mass of the Sun is 1.989 x 1030 kg). This is about 8,000 times the size of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
The largest supermassive black hole ever discovered by humans is TON 618, equivalent to about 40 billion solar masses.
Studying supermassive black holes could hopefully help scientists understand how these cosmic giants grew to such sizes, as well as investigate how these monsters influenced the evolution of the universe.
Tra Khanh (Source: Live Science)
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