Stupendously Large Black Holes Could Be Hiding in Universe

If ‘stupendously large’ black holes, those with masses more than 100 billion times that of the Sun, exist in the Universe, they would provide a powerful tool for cosmological tests due to their unique imprints, according to a paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

“Black holes are a key prediction of general relativity,” said Queen Mary Emeritus Professor Bernard Carr and colleagues.

“There is also evidence for supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, including Sagittarius A* at the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy, with a mass of 4 million solar masses.”

“The current heaviest black hole is associated with the quasar TON 618 and has a mass of 70 billion solar masses, while the second heaviest, at the center of the galaxy IC 1101, has a mass inferred from its radio emission of 40 billion solar masses.”

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Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Carr et al. investigated how stupendously large black holes could form and potential limits to their size.

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Visiting the Largest Black Hole in the Universe (TON 618)

The current heaviest black hole is associated with the quasar TON 618 and has a mass of 70 billion solar masses, while the second heaviest, at the center of the galaxy IC 1101, has a mass inferred from its radio emission of 40 billion solar masses.

The Largest Galaxy in the Universe - IC 1101

The universe is filled with galaxies. Billions of them.

But in this video, we are on a journey to the biggest one ever observed. The galaxy is called IC 1101.

“There is also evidence for supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, including Sagittarius A* at the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy, with a mass of 4 million solar masses.”

ESO’s exquisitely sensitive GRAVITY instrument has added further evidence to the long-standing assumption that a supermassive black hole lurks in the centre of the Milky Way.

New observations show clumps of gas swirling around at about 30% of the speed of light on a circular orbit just outside a four million solar mass black hole — the first time material has been observed orbiting close to the point of no return, and the most detailed observations yet of material orbiting this close to a black hole.