In a discovery that sounds more like the plot of a science-fiction saga, researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) have identified what is currently known as the fastest-growing black hole in the universe.
This colossal entity, with an apparent insatiable appetite, is devouring the equivalent of one sun each day, setting a new record for cosmic enormity and ferocity.
The research was part of a collaborative effort involving the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the University of Melbourne, and Sorbonne Université in France.
“The incredible rate of growth also means a huge release of light and heat. So, this is also the most luminous known object in the universe. It’s 200 trillion times brighter than our sun,” ANU lead author Associate Professor Christian Wolf said.
The black hole’s growth is so rapid that Mr. Wolf believes the record for it will never be broken.
“It’s a surprise it remained undetected until now, given what we know about many other, less impressive black holes,” ANU co-author Christopher Onken said.
“It was hiding in plain sight.”
The mass of the black hole is estimated to be a colossal 17 billion times greater than that of the sun at the centre of our solar system.
The astronomical giant was initially spotted with the help of a 2.3-metre (7.5-foot) telescope located at the ANU Siding Spring Observatory, near Coonabarabran in New South Wales.
“We were only able to make these discoveries because of the Australian government’s 10-year partnership with the ESO,” Mr. Wolf said.
Professor Rachel Webster of the University of Melbourne said, “The light from this black hole has travelled over 12 billion years to reach us.”
She further explained, “In the adolescent universe, matter was moving chaotically and feeding hungry black holes. Today, stars are moving orderly at safe distances and only rarely plunge into black holes.”
The brilliant radiation observed comes from the black hole’s accretion disc, essentially a cosmic queue of material destined for consumption.
Describing this phenomenon, Mr. Wolf said, “It looks like a gigantic and magnetic storm cell with temperatures of 10,000 degrees Celsius, lightning everywhere and winds blowing so fast they would go around Earth in a second.”
Black Holes
With the magnitude of this discovery, black holes are still a fascinating and mysterious phenomenon.So what exactly are they?
According to NASA, a black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space.
This can happen when a star is dying. Because no light can escape, people can’t see black holes. They are “invisible.”
Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.
Black holes can also vary in size. Some are as small as just one atom (the smallest known particle of a chemical element) but have the mass of a large mountain. Others, known as “supermassive” black holes, have masses that are more than the sum of one million suns.
The newly discovered black hole by ANU researchers falls into the latter category, showcasing the diverse and often surprising nature of these cosmic events.
