Talk about a big fish in a little pond.
Talk about a big fish in a little pond.
Astronomers using the Keck 1 telescope atop Mauna Kea say they discovered a massive black hole in the middle of a galaxy that was unusually small.
Typically, black holes have a mass that’s less than 1 percent of all the objects in their galaxy. But the international team of scientists calculated that the mass of this giant was about 10 percent of its host, at least as it existed 11 billion years ago.
That throws into question the principle that large black holes are only found in large galaxies.
“The result was so surprising, two of the astronomers had to verify the galaxy mass independently,” said study leader Benny Trakhtenbrot, of the ETH Zurich’s Institute for Astronomy, in a press release from W.M. Keck Observatory.
The team concluded that the black hole grew so quickly that its galaxy wasn’t able to keep up.
“The researchers also concluded stars were still forming even though the black hole had reached the end of its growth,” the statement said.
“Contrary to previous assumptions, the energy and gals flow propelled by the black hole did not stop the creation of stars.”
The discovery was made during what scientists called a routine hunt for ancient, massive black holes.
The one found in this galaxy had more than 7 billion times more mass than the Sun, which makes it one of the largest discovered.
The findings were published Thursday in the journal Science.