By trying to analyse how black holes form, researchers discovered monster black holes in dwarf galaxies. Some of the galaxies are up to 100 times less massive than our Milky Way galaxy, yet the black holes at their heart have 400,000 times the mass of our Sun. Experts used the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to discover 13 dwarf galaxies with huge black holes.
What is perhaps most surprising for the researchers is that, in several of the galaxies, the black holes are not at the centre of their galaxy, as is typical.
The team from Montana State University believe the discovery could pave the way to a better understanding of how black holes formed when the universe was in its infancy.
These black holes could have formed small in their dwarf galaxies, but in the ensuing billions of years could have grown to the monstrous size that they are today.
Amy Reines of Montana State University said: “We hope that studying them and their galaxies will give us insights into how similar black holes in the early Universe formed and then grew, through galactic mergers over billions of years, producing the supermassive black holes we see in larger galaxies today, with masses of many millions or billions of times that of the sun.
“The new VLA observations revealed that 13 of these galaxies have strong evidence for a massive black hole that is actively consuming surrounding material.
“We were very surprised to find that, in roughly half of those 13 galaxies, the black hole is not at the centre of the galaxy, unlike the case in larger galaxies.
“This work has taught us that we must broaden our searches for massive black holes in dwarf galaxies beyond their centres to get a more complete understanding of the population and learn what mechanisms helped form the first massive black holes in the early universe.”
Black holes remain one of the most mysterious entities in the universe – but what is known of them is terrifying.
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There are a few ways in which a black hole can form.
Scientists believe the most common instance is when a star, thousands of times the size of the Sun, collapses in on itself when it dies – known as a supernova.
Another way is when a large amount of matter, which can be in the form of a gas cloud or a star collapses in on itself through its own gravitational pull.
Finally, the collision of two neutron stars can cause a black hole.
The gist of all three ways is that a massive amount of mass located in one spot can cause a black hole.
