'36 billion suns inside': NASA's Hubble Telescope discovers one of the largest black hole hiding inside an Einstein Ring
Produced by Tarun Mishra
Produced by Tarun Mishra
Astronomers have detected a black hole with a mass equivalent to 36 billion suns at the centre of the Cosmic Horseshoe, a system of two galaxies in the Leo constellation. This discovery places it among the largest black holes ever recorded.
The Cosmic Horseshoe was first identified in 2007 and features a bright halo around the foreground galaxy LRG 3-757. This halo, known as an Einstein Ring, results from gravitational lensing, where the galaxy’s mass bends and magnifies light from a more distant background galaxy.
Albert Einstein’s general relativity predicted that massive objects warp space-time, causing light to bend. In this case, the immense mass of LRG 3-757, including its black hole, is responsible for the strong gravitational lensing effect observed.
Scientists used data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer in Chile’s Atacama Desert to study the gravitational lensing effect and stellar movements. Their analysis concluded that an ultramassive black hole must be present to explain both datasets.
The black hole inside LRG 3-757 ranks among the biggest known, comparable to Ton 618, which has a mass of 66 billion suns, and Holm 15A, which is estimated at 44 billion solar masses.
Researchers are uncertain about how this black hole formed. Possible explanations include past galaxy mergers ejecting nearby stars, powerful jets preventing new star formation, or the black hole rapidly consuming its surrounding stars.
The Euclid space telescope, currently mapping a third of the night sky, is expected to help uncover more Einstein Rings and offer insights into dark matter and dark energy. These discoveries may deepen understanding of galaxy evolution and black hole formation.
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