A team of British astronomers has discovered a supermassive black hole with a mass roughly 30 billion times that of the Sun, DPA and LiveScience reported on Wednesday, Agerpres reports.

According to Durham University scientists, this supermassive black hole is one of the largest ever discovered.

The research team called the results of the study, published in the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, “extremely interesting”.

“This black hole, about 30 billion times the mass of our Sun, is one of the largest ever discovered and is at the upper end of the size estimates we can theoretically reach, so it’s an extremely exciting discovery.” said lead study author Dr James Nightingale from Durham University’s Department of Physics.

What is known about supermassive black holes

Supermassive black holes are the largest objects in the universe, their mass is 10-40 billion times greater than the mass of the Sun.

Astronomers estimate that they are at the center of all large galaxies, such as the Milky Way. Ultramassive black holes are rare, difficult to observe, and their origins are unclear.

Some believe they were formed by an extreme merger of massive galaxies billions of years ago, when the universe was still young.

The researchers used a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, using the presence of a nearby galaxy, which they turned into a giant magnifying glass. This revealed the presence of a supermassive black hole, a region where the gravitational pull is so strong that even light cannot escape.

The “tempting” possibility of discovering more supermassive black holes

Scientists used simulations using the Durham University supercomputer and images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to confirm the size of the supermassive black hole.

According to the researchers, this is the first black hole discovered using gravitational lensing.

“Most of the largest black holes we know of are active, when matter being sucked in near the black hole heats up and releases energy in the form of light, X-rays and other radiation,” Nightingale said.

“But gravitational lensing makes it possible to study inactive black holes, which is currently not possible for distant galaxies. This approach may allow us to discover many other black holes beyond our local universe and learn how these exotic objects have evolved over spacetime,” the researcher added.

The scientists said their work opens the door to the “tempting possibility” that astronomers may discover more supermassive black holes than previously thought.

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