Scientists Find Monster Size Black Holes

Scientists have found the biggest black holes known to exist — each one 10 billion times the size of our sun. A team led by astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered the two gigantic black holes in clusters of elliptical galaxies more than 300 million light years away. That's relatively close on the galactic scale. "They are monstrous," Berkeley astrophysicist Chung-Pei Ma told reporters. "We did not expect to find such massive black holes because they are more massive than indicated by their galaxy properties.

They're kind of extraordinary." The previous black hole record-holder is as large as 6 billion suns. In research released Monday by the journal Nature, the scientists suggest these black holes may be the leftovers of quasars that crammed the early universe. They are similar in mass to young quasars, they said, and have been well hidden until now.

The researchers said their findings suggest differences in the way black holes grow, depending on the size of the galaxy. Ma speculates these two black holes remained hidden for so long because they are living in quiet retirement — much quieter and more boring than their boisterous youth powering quasars billions of years ago. "For an astronomer, finding these insatiable black holes is like finally encountering people nine feet tall whose great height had only been inferred from fossilized bones. How did they grow so large?" Ma said in a news release. "This rare find will help us understand whether these black holes had very tall parents or ate a lot of spinach." Oxford University astrophysicist Michele Cappellari, who wrote an accompanying commentary in the journal, agreed that the two newly discovered black holes "probably represent the missing dormant relics of the giant black holes that powered the brightest quasars in the early universe." One of the newly detected black holes weighs 9.7 billion times the mass of the sun. The second, slightly farther from Earth, is as big or even bigger.

Very interesting stuff!

With all the horrible news we hear daily on earth, I find a lot of beauty in the universe. I love hearing when we make new discoveries like this. These things huge. 10 billion times the size of our sun. Can't rally picture what that would look like.

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reply to post by MysticPearl
I'm sure it'll boggle the mind at what we'll find as we get out into space. Your story sure puts man into perspective though doesn't it? 10 billion times the size of our sun? wow.. We're a tiny spec in a small galaxy in the grand scheme of things. Who knows what we'll find when we can overcome the technical issues of getting there.

I love inspirational stories like I consider these. Some day...we'll find a way to get there. Eventually.

Hmm... The way I read the article on my phone was the first one they found was 10 billion times the size and then the next was 20 billion?

Cherry picking aside, I have always had an idea that we are either living inside a super massive blackhole, we were created from one falling in on itself (big bang). Or these black holes are a way outside of our universe.

Let me expand on that last statement a bit.

My idea is that when a blackhole gets so massive it could possible bend and warp space so violently that it caused a sort of rip in space and they very thing that ripped it apart is in a way keeping it together. (Don't judge me on this I'm no astrophysicist). Just a thought though, I'll leave it to the real scientists to do the dirty work