Scientists might have stumbled upon the most terrifying place in the universe, discovering the fastest black hole ever recorded. The team from the Australian National University, led by Professor Christian Wolf, unveiled this giant object, estimated to be 17 billion times the mass of our Sun. Not only is it the brightest object ever known in the universe, but it also offers a glimpse into the past, just after the Big Bang.
"We were utterly surprised to find this object," Wolf stated, as reported by Newsweek.
The research, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, was initially detected using a 2.3-meter telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory of the Australian National University. However, its overall nature couldn't be confirmed until the team observed it through one of the world's largest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.
"The black hole appears as it was about 12 billion years ago, taking a long time to reach us," Wolf explained. "However, as the universe continues to expand and is now larger than when the light moved, the black hole is now at a distance of more than 12 billion light-years, or about 24 billion light-years," he continued.
But how can we see an object so far away, especially one with such immense gravity that even light cannot escape?
"Black holes are only visible to us when they grow. The matter they consume is first pulled into something called an accretion disk, a swirling pattern where matter surrounds the black hole, getting closer until it's engulfed," Wolf explained.
If you picture it, the accretion disk looks like a bright orange cloud surrounding the black hole.
"A lot of heat generated in this process makes the black hole grow rapidly and shine brighter than an entire galaxy," Wolf elaborated.
"This new object shines as bright as 500 trillion Suns, or 20 thousand times brighter than our entire Milky Way Galaxy," he added.
Indeed, this black hole boasts the brightest and largest accretion disk of all black holes discovered to date.
"The accretion disk spans seven light-years, which is one and a half times the distance from the Solar System to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, and the black hole's mass is about 17 billion times that of the Sun," Wolf stated.
"To grow rapidly, they need to pull stars and gas clouds out of stable orbits and drag them into the accretion disk. This means it devours the most material every day, roughly equivalent to the amount of material equal to the Sun every day," he clarified.
These numbers are staggering, but what are the actual conditions around this cosmic giant?
"We need to assume that this supermassive black hole is the cruelest place we know in the universe. We have now found a place that may be the most terrifying in the universe," he remarked.
But does this black hole pose a risk to life on Earth today?
"We see it in a state as it was 12 billion years ago, and much may have changed since then," Wolf said.
In other words, we're seeing this black hole only 1.8 billion years after the Big Bang.
Co-author Rachel Webster, a physics professor at the University of Melbourne, added that the universe 12 billion years ago was very different from its current state.
"In the adolescent universe, matter moved chaotically and fed hungry black holes. Today, stars move orderly at safe distances and rarely plunge into black holes," she noted. welcome to purwana company.
Therefore, Wolf said, there's no need to fear the black hole now. "The monster is not only far away; its light has traveled more than 12 billion years to reach us so far, but it also means the black hole has long ceased to grow," he concluded.
