Aussie scientists discover 'fastest-growing' black hole of past nine billion years
A group of scientists say they have discovered the fastest-growing black hole of the past nine billion years.
The black hole consumes the equivalent of one earth per second, according to an international team led by astronomers from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.
Astronomers said the black hole is visible to anyone with a decent telescope in a very dark backyard, as it shines 7000 brighter than all the light from our own galaxy.
READ MORE: Customers unaware Kmart, Bunnings and The Good Guys are capturing their 'faceprint'
Scientists say they have discovered the fastest-growing black hole of the last nine billion years. Dr Christopher Onken/ANU
They believe the black hole has the mass of three billion suns, while others of a comparable size stopped growing so quickly billions of years ago.
The research has been published on the online research-sharing platform arXiv and has been submitted to be peer-reviewed by scientific journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
Lead researcher Dr Christopher Onken said astronomers "have been hunting for objects like this for more than 50 years".
"They have found thousands of fainter ones, but this astonishingly bright one had slipped through unnoticed," Onken said.
READ MORE: Drastic intervention halts energy market to keep the power on
He said astronomers now want to know why this black hole is different.
"Did something catastrophic happen?" he said.
"Perhaps two big galaxies crashed into each other, funnelling a whole lot of material onto the black hole to feed it."
One co-author of the research, Associate Professor Christian Wolf, said he doesn't believe "we will find another one like this".
"We are fairly confident this record will not be broken," he said.
READ MORE: PM pledges more after wage rise
Dr Christopher Onken and PhD candidate Samuel Lai at the Australian National University. Jamie Kidston/ANU
"We have essentially run out of sky where objects like this could be hiding."
Co-author and ANU PhD researcher Samuel Lai said the discovery is "500 times bigger than the black hole in our own galaxy".
"The orbits of the planets in our solar system would all fit inside its event horizon – the black hole's boundary from which nothing can escape," he said.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
