Supermassive Black Hole 12 Billion Times Size of the Sun

Astronomers say they have discovered a black hole so big that it challenges the theory about how they grow. Scientists said this black hole was formed about 900 million years after the Big Bang. But with measurements indicating it is 12 billion times the size of the sun, the black hole challenges a widely accepted hypothesis of growth rates. "Based on previous research, this is the largest black hole found for that period of time," Fuyan Bian, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University (ANU), told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Current theory is for a limit to how fast a black hole can grow, but this black hole is too large for that theory." The discovery was described in a study published Wednesday in Nature.

Source

So far, roughly 40 quasars with redshifts greater than z = 6 have been discovered1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Each quasar contains a black hole with a mass of about one billion solar masses (109 )2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. The existence of such black holes when the Universe was less than one billion years old presents substantial challenges to theories of the formation and growth of black holes and the coevolution of black holes and galaxies14. Here we report the discovery of an ultraluminous quasar, SDSS J010013.02+280225.8, at redshift z = 6.30. It has an optical and near-infrared luminosity a few times greater than those of previously known z > 6 quasars. On the basis of the deep absorption trough15 on the blue side of the Lyman-α emission line in the spectrum, we estimate the proper size of the ionized proximity zone associated with the quasar to be about 26 million light years, larger than found with other z > 6.1 quasars with lower luminosities16. We estimate (on the basis of a near-infrared spectrum) that the black hole has a mass of ~1.2 × 1010 , which is consistent with the 1.3 × 1010 derived by assuming an Eddington-limited accretion rate.

Nature


What I do not understand is this object a part of a Galaxy and why is the data on the location so generalized?

Any thoughts?

Just goes to show that the more we learn about our universe the less we actually know.

i just saw a youtube vid on blackholes... really astounded at how big they are...

Black Hole Comparison

That people who write the articles REALLY need to learn the difference between the words "Size" and "Mass"

a reply to: Kashai

You mean,

"Supermassive Black Hole 12 Billion Times Mass of the Sun".

Take a look at your own source:

Each quasar contains a black hole with a mass of about one billion solar masses

Emphasis mine.

a reply to: swanne


Yeah well I simply shortened the title.

On the nature link at below the comments are some small images.

Besides my motivation for the title are there any other relevant responses?

Science is always a work in progress. This is interesting information, but seems incomplete. It just goes to show that science is always a snapshot in time and what is considered consensus one year could be completely different the next. There is so much we still don't know. Good find.

originally posted by: JHumm
Just goes to show that the more we learn about our universe the less we actually know.

So true.

If you ever want to establish an agreement with someone
who you may disagree with, a great why I've found to
do that is to say the following:

"Do you agree with this statement:
we don't know what we don't know"

then be silent.... wait for their reply.
then you can move forward with a discussion
where you both admit you don't know it all.

It's influence can have a larger size, but the mass is defined as a singularity, and I'm not sure if anyone knows if it even has measurement of size 😊

Black holes obviously have something to do with dark matter and dark energy... due to their color similarities.

But on a more serious note... sorta like what was said above... the more we know, the more questions are generated...
which is a good thing, because imagine if all questions get answered... pretty dull, imo.

a reply to: zazzafrazz

That I can live with as an explanation in relation to size vs. mass.

By influence you mean the point of no return.

There was no big bang. Black holes create stars and eject them. Stars get lots of asteroids and matter in and eject planets. Black holes recycle an infinite universe that didn't begin with a big bang but does get renewed.

a reply to: Kashai I was thinking more in terms of general gravitational Influence. I guess some people think the event horizon is part of the size but its not really.

originally posted by: Unity_99
There was no big bang. Black holes create stars and eject them. Stars get lots of asteroids and matter in and eject planets. Black holes recycle an infinite universe that didn't begin with a big bang but does get renewed.

Then why don't we see white holes spouting stars? Why don't we see stars creating planets? Black holes in this reality seem to be a "one-way" gateway. And you can't even use the premise that they are multi-dimensional gateways that eject matter/energy into the next attached universe. If it were the case, then we would see white holes from other universes, which we don't. It is however possible, that each black hole is the creator of another universe if you follow the "foam" theory.

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: bobs_uruncle

White holes are the ol' quasars... of course. Or maybe they spit out the planets surreptitiously... a planet here, one there... so the outpouring is not as noticeable as the black holes hoovering up of mass?

But I do like Unity's theory... even if it's wrong.

My take on Black Holes is that they convert matter into the fundamental energy in context of space-time.

Much like cube of ice melts into a fluid.

The Big Bang was an event space-time splintering the individual packets becoming what we now call matter.

Any thought?

originally posted by: Kashai
My take on Black Holes is that they convert matter into the fundamental energy in context of space-time.

Much like cube of ice melts into a fluid.

The Big Bang was an event space-time splintering the individual packets becoming what we now call matter.

Any thought?

Massive "black holes" deconstruct and obliterate matter as we know it. There is no limit on mass.

What if there is a point where the consumption of matter and gravitational pull toward the black holes at the center of galaxies grows exponentially, until they consume all matter as we know it in the known universe, then the black holes consume each other until there is only one.... Then BANG! it all begins again.

Maybe you have been here before... Millions of TIMES?

12 billion times the size of the sun? How do they know that the universe wasn't big banged into existence and instead fell out of that black hole like a wet seal on a waterslide?

originally posted by: Kashai

Any thoughts?

Yes... supermassive thoughts billions of times larger than words.

👣

a reply to: Kashai does energy have mass? Because if a black hole is converting mass into energy why would it retain the mass of everything it had consumed?