5 black holes in the Galaxy discovered so far

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – A black hole or a black hole is a space object capable of attracting light with a very strong gravitational force. The largest black holes in the universe are called supermassive black holes and are millions to billions of times larger than the Sun.

There are usually black holes in the middle galaxyincluding the Milky Way. Even though they have been the subject of research for decades, black holes are still a mystery in the world of astronomy.

Taken from the Live Science page on Monday (23/09/2024), as follows list of black holes found so far.

1. Phoenix

The largest black hole ever discovered is the Phoenix cluster. This supermassive black hole is also a large cluster of several galaxies.

The position of the Phoenix black hole is at the center of the cluster. However, the size of this black hole is unknown but it is estimated to be around 100 billion Suns.

This black hole is more than 24,000 times more massive than the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The diameter of the black hole is estimated to be about 520.5 billion kilometers.

The diameter of Phoenix is ​​more than 100 times greater than the distance between the sun and Pluto.

2. TONE 618

Ton 618 is a supermassive black hole located 10 billion light years from Earth. The mass of this black hole is 66 billion solar and makes it one of the largest black holes in the universe.

This super black hole is on the border between the constellations Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices. TON 618 was first observed by astronomers in a 1957 survey from the Tonantzintla Observatory in Mexico.

This black hole object was unknown to astronomers when they first discovered it. At first, astronomers thought it was a faint blue star.

Observations ten years later revealed that astronomers had seen powerful radiation from matter collapsing into a supermassive black hole. This black hole was discovered in a quasar, a very bright object produced by matter collapsing into a black hole and emitting intense radiation.

The TON 618 quasar is one of the brightest and most powerful quasars ever observed. Interestingly, TON 618 powers the quasar with a luminosity of 140 trillion suns.

Quasars absorb light from the gravitational energy of the black hole’s center. The material around the black hole collapses in and as it compresses and heats up, it releases a lot of radiation.

In contrast, quasars can shine for millions of years. However, quasars are so far away that they only appear as faint specks of visible light even in the most powerful telescopes.

Astronomers first discovered quasars through their powerful radio emissions. Quasars are supermassive black holes that eat.