Handout photo released byNature shows a figure depicting the immense size of the black hole discoveredin the galaxy NGC 3842. NGC 3842, shown in the background image, is thebrightest galaxy in a rich cluster of galaxies. The black hole is at its centerand is surrounded by stars (shown as an artist's concept in the centralfigure). Our solar system (inset) would be dwarfed by it. (AFP Photo/PeteMarenfeld)
Scientists havediscovered the two biggest blackholes ever observed, each with a mass billions of times greaterthan the Sun's, according to a study published Monday.
Thetwo giants are located in the heart of a pair of galaxies several hundredmillion light years from Earth,said the study in scientific journal Nature.
Eachblack hole is estimated to have a mass about 10 billion times greater than thesun, dwarfing the previously largest-known black hole, which has a mass of 6.3billion suns.
TheUniversity of California,Berkeley, team led by Nicholas McConnell and Chung-Pei Ma said oneblack hole is located in NGC3842, the brightest of a clusterof galaxies about 320 million light years from Earth.
Thesecond hole is of "comparable or greater mass" and is located in NGC4889, the brightest galaxy in the Coma cluster, about 335 million light yearsaway.
"These two black holes are significantly more massive thanpredicted," the astronomers wrote.
Theysaid their calculations suggest that different evolutionary processes influencethe growth of the largest galaxies and their black holes than in smallergalaxies.
Astronomershave long supposed that since the universe began it has harboured black holeswith a mass the size of the two newly found giants.
Thesecosmic gluttons grow in tandem with their galaxies, slurping up gases, planetsand stars.
"There is a symbiotic relationship between black holes and theirgalaxies that has existed since the dawn of time," Kevin Schawinski, aYale astronomer said in a June study.
Kasimir Malevich, BlackSquare, 1913
NOTE: Material like this is always highly engagingand makes you feel like there’s a reason to keep reading. As my favorite Traffic song put it, “WhoKnows What Tomorrow May Bring?” Personally, I thought the biggest black hole ever discovered wasFacebook, which seems to drain most useful energy from the universe, drawing itinto little vicious circles of self-reference, unlike the efforts of the great Kasimir Malevich, Suprematistsupreme.
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