A black hole a billion times more massive than the Sun has been discovered – Makeleio.gr

A few days ago it was announced that galaxies of huge dimensions had been discovered in the early universe which should not have existed, according to current cosmological models and data on the birth and evolution of the universe.

The headache of scientists is increasing with the announcement of a research team about the discovery of a massive black hole that was created when the universe was still in its infancy, and like the huge galaxies that were discovered a few days ago, this, according to cosmic assumptions until now, should not normally exist because the conditions of that period will not allow its existence.

Publishing in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, researchers led by scientists from the University of Texas report the discovery of a black hole created when the universe was only 750 million years old, at a time dubbed the “cosmic dawn” as the emergence of the first generation was just beginning. of stars and galaxies in their simplest and smallest versions.

According to researchers, in the galaxy COS-87259 there is a black hole, the mass of which is a billion times greater than that of the Sun. The scientific community has decided that the mass of the Sun is the measure of comparison to the mass of a black hole because the usual way a black hole is born is by destroying stars.

In fact, the researchers found that the black hole continues to grow by absorbing huge amounts of matter from the cosmic environment in which it is located, expelling some of this matter and ejecting it into space at speeds that reach those of light.

Researchers even estimate that there may have been thousands more black holes of this size in the early universe just waiting to be discovered, adding to the mystery of the conditions that prevailed at the time.

One possible explanation given by the researchers is that in the early universe, black holes were constantly forming and conditions were such that they favored their rapid merger, which led to the ease of formation of these massive black holes.

It is also significant that the discovery was not made with a space telescope but with ground-based ALMA in the Atacama Desert in Chile, a fact that shows that discoveries of this level can now be achieved with an increasingly powerful and advanced ground base. telescopes, which increases the research possibilities for astronomers.