The Largest Known Black Hole

[Yazata]

It's a supermassive black hole called Phoenix A

The largest black hole ever discovered is located within a galaxy cluster known as the Phoenix Cluster, located around 8.5-billion light years away. The Phoenix Cluster is one of the most intensely studied galaxy clusters in our universe. It contains as many as 1,000 individual galaxies, and its galaxies also have an abnormally high rate of star-formation. Perhaps the most interesting galaxy in the cluster is the central galaxy, called Phoenix A. Star formation in Phoenix A is over 700 times higher than in the Milky Way. In our galaxy, one star forms every year on average. In Phoenix A, 740 stars form every year. Phoenix A is currently undergoing a phase known as a starburst phase, wherein star-formation is occurring at an accelerated rate. In fact, Phoenix A is one of the most active galaxies ever discovered.

Star-formation alone is not what makes Phoenix A an interesting target for research. At the center of the galaxy, there exists the largest black hole ever discovered. Estimates of its mass and size make this black hole a true behemoth, and it is unlike anything in our galaxy or in any of the galaxies in our galactic neighborhood. The mass of the central black hole is estimated to be 100-billion times larger than the sun. The supermassive black hole is even more massive than some galaxies. The event horizon of the black hole has a diameter of 366-billion miles (590-billion kilometres), or about 100 times the distance between the sun and Pluto. Travelling at the speed of light, it would take you 71 days to traverse the entire circumference of the black hole. The mass of this black hole is so large that it would have been impossible for it to form from a star. Rather, the supermassive black hole of Phoenix A likely formed from the collision of multiple supermassive black holes that formed shortly after the Big Bang, which means that it may be one of the oldest black holes in the universe. Furthermore, the black hole itself is actually growing in size and mass. It is currently absorbing vast amounts of material and is increasing its mass by 60 suns every year.

The supermassive black hole of Phoenix A is believed to be a primordial black hole, meaning that it is likely among the first black holes to have formed after the Big Bang. The exact origin of supermassive black holes remains a mystery, yet their origin likely predates the formation of the first large galaxies. Since nearly every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its core, astronomers believe that supermassive black holes play an important role in the formation of galaxies...

https://www.worldatlas.com/space/the-big...verse.html

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