Abell 1201 is the name of the supermassive black hole first discovered in 2003 in the galaxy of the same name, and now, thanks to the latest gravitational lensing observations, it has been found to be much larger than previously thought. 33 billion times more massive than our Sun.

Research published in the Royal Astronomical Society puts us on the trail supermassive black holes (SMBHs), has emerged as an integral part of models of galaxy formation and evolution. Astronomers say that at the center of every galaxy is at least one of these giants, and that they and the SMBH have evolved from each other since their initial formation in the early universe.

This is the case of the galaxy NGC 7727, which contains the closest pair of supermassive black holes to Earth found to date and dangerously close to each other on a cosmological scale, so they will inevitably end up merging into one even more massive one. NGC 7727 is a classic type of merger of two different (probably elliptical) galaxies merging into one, just as our Milky Way and its neighbor Andromeda are predicted to be.

Abell 1201, the largest supermassive black hole

Coming back to the Abell 1201, it must be said that it is one of the largest of its kind. Located about 2.7 billion light-years away, it has an incredible distance 32.7 billion times larger than the Sun. They calculate that the average event horizon would cover more than 1290 astronomical units. To put the data into context, let’s say that Pluto’s distance from the Sun is only 40 AU. It’s amazing to think about these measures which escape our understanding like other distances of the universe.

“This particular black hole, which is about 30 billion times the size of our Sun, is one of the largest ever detected and is at the upper limit of how large we think black holes can theoretically get, which is an extremely exciting discovery.”. explains physicist James Nightingale from Durham University in the UK.

Your measurement is now much higher than when first captured at the turn of the century using the Hubble telescope. And that’s not easy. they believe they exist There are many black holes in the universe, but unless they are actively accreting material, a process that produces large amounts of light as the material heats up before falling into a black hole, they are not easy to detect.

Gravitational lensing to detect black holes

As you know, black holes themselves do not emit light that we can detect, so we have to find them by looking for the effect they have on the objects around them. And here comes the gravitational lensing effect predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. It works in all types of electromagnetic radiation and not only in visible light, and is produced by the light of distant and bright objects such as quasars. curves around a massive object (such as a galaxy or black hole) located between the transmitting and receiving object.

This occurs when one owns spacetime is warped by matter. Any light traveling through this region of spacetime must travel along a curved path, very interesting for distant observations. Astronomers can study this distorted light to test the properties of the lens material.

The central galaxy or brighter cluster of galaxies (BCG) Abell 1201 is a large diffuse elliptical galaxy known as strongly gravitationally lensed. The galaxy far beyond the BCG appears next to it as an elongated eyebrow-like smudge that wraps tightly around its circumference. This spot was discovered in 2003, and already in 2017, astronomers found a second, fainter spot, even closer to the galactic center.

Astronomers suggested that this indicated the presence of a very large black hole at the center, but the available data was not detailed enough to detect the central mass or reveal more details about what was there. Now they have managed to detect it and the result is the largest known black hole. The researchers hope to use similar methods detect and weigh other black holes in the distant Universe. And maybe clues to their evolution and how they can become so gigantic.