Scientists have just discovered one of the largest black holes ever, with a mass about 34 billion times that of the Sun.
Notably, Sagittarius A* – a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way with a mass about 4 million times that of the Sun – is also completely ‘not old enough’ when compared to this newly discovered black hole.
`The mass of this black hole is 8,000 times heavier than the black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy,` said astronomer Christopher Onken of the Australian National University.
Named J2157* by scientists, this black hole was first observed in 2018, when it emitted a huge amount of radiation in the center of galaxy J2157, billions of light years from Earth.
At that time, astronomers estimated the mass of this black hole to be about 20 billion times that of the Sun, classified as a ‘supermassive black hole’ (mass larger than 10 billion times that of the Sun).
Since then, astronomers have applied several new measurements to recalculate the mass of black hole J2157*.
By comparison, Pluto – the most distant asteroid in the Earth System – lies about 39.5 AU from the Sun.
However, J2157* is not the largest black hole ever discovered.
The existence of black holes like Holm 15A and TON 618 gives scientists a real headache.
Refer to Science Alert
