Using NASA’s “Hubble” space telescope and a cosmic magnifying glass called a gravitational lens, English astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole weighing 30 billion suns. It is about 2.7 billion light-years from Earth.
Researchers led by James Nightingale of Durham University’s Department of Physics have found one of the largest black holes ever found by taking advantage of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
Gravitational lensing — in which a foreground galaxy bends and magnifies light from a more distant object — and simulations run on a supercomputer enabled Nightingale’s team to study in detail how light from a black hole in a galaxy travels hundreds of millions of light years. away from the earth is curved.
First black hole found with gravitational lensing
What the researchers found was an ultramassive black hole, an object with more than 30 billion times the mass of the sun – a size rarely seen by astronomers. The university reports on its website that this is the first black hole discovered using gravitational lensing.
Gravitational lenses would make it possible to study dormant black holes, which is currently not possible in distant galaxies. This approach could allow astronomers to discover many more dormant and ultramassive black holes than previously thought and to study how they got so big.
The history of discovery began in 2004
The story of this particular discovery began way back in 2004, when astronomer Alastair Edge of Durham University noticed the huge arc of a gravitational lens while viewing images from a galaxy survey. 19 years later and with the help of high-resolution images from the Hubble telescope, Nightingale and his team were able to continue their research.
The team hopes this is the first step toward deeper exploration of black hole mysteries. It is hoped that future large telescopes will help study even more distant black holes to learn more about their size and reach, say the researchers, whose findings are published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
