The Largest Black Hole Ever Detected Exceeds Cosmological Limits.
Unprecedented Discovery of a Massive Black Hole
The largest black hole ever detected has 36 billion times the mass of our sun. Its existence pushes the boundaries of our cosmological models and raises pressing questions about the relationship between black holes and the galaxies that host them.
In a study published on August 7th, researchers announced the discovery of a black hole within a supermassive galaxy 5 billion light-years away from Earth, known as the Cosmic Horseshoe. This newly detected monster weighs about 10,000 times more than the supermassive black hole at the core of the Milky Way.
Undetectable with Conventional Methods
“It is among the 10 most massive black holes ever discovered and may be the most massive,” said Thomas Collett, co-author of the study and cosmologist at the University of Portsmouth in England. Gravitational lensing and data from observations of the sky allowed the researchers to detect this “latent” black hole purely by its immense gravitational force.
This method allows us to detect and measure the mass of these ultra-massive black holes hidden throughout the universe, even when they remain entirely silent,” added Melos.
