Found! Voracious Black Hole 2 Billion Times Size of the Sun

Using the Chandra data, the flow of hot gas toward the supermassive black hole at the center of a large galaxy known as NGC 3115, which is located about 32 million light-years from Earth. A large amount of previous data has shown material falling toward and onto black holes, but none with this clear a signature of hot gas.

This is the first time that clear evidence for such a flow has been observed in any black hole. The new Chandra data also supports the previous optical observations that suggest that NGC 3115’s black hole has a mass of about two billion times that of the Sun. This would make NGC 3115 the host of the nearest billion-solar-mass black hole to Earth.

The flow of hot gas toward a black hole has been clearly imaged for the first time in X-rays. The observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, analyzed by University of Alabama astronomers, will help tackle two of the most fundamental problems in modern astrophysics: understanding how black holes grow and how matter behaves in their intense gravity.

By imaging the hot gas at different distances from the supermassive black hole, astronomers have observed a critical threshold where the motion of gas first becomes dominated by the black hole’s gravity and falls inward. The distance from the black hole is known as the “Bondi radius.”

“It’s exciting to find such clear evidence for gas in the grip of a massive black hole,” said Dr. Ka-Wah Wong, a post-doctoral researcher at The University of Alabama, who led the study that appears in the July 20 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. ”Chandra’s resolving power provides a unique opportunity to understand more about how black holes capture material by studying this nearby object.”

As gas flows toward a black hole, it becomes squeezed, making it hotter and brighter, a signature now confirmed by the X-ray observations.

The researchers found the rise in gas temperature begins about 700 light years from the black hole, giving the location of the Bondi radius. This suggests the black hole in the center of NGC 3115 has a mass about two billion times that of the sun, making it the closest black hole of that size to Earth.

The Chandra data also show that the gas close to the black hole in the center of the galaxy is denser than gas further out, as predicted. Using the observed properties of the gas and theoretical assumptions, the team then estimated that each year gas weighing about 2 percent the mass of the sun is being pulled across the Bondi radius toward the black hole.

Making certain assumptions about how much of the gas’s energy changes into radiation, astronomers would expect to find a source that is more than a million times brighter in X-rays than what is seen in NGC 3115.
“A leading mystery in astrophysics is how the area around massive black holes can stay so dim, when there’s so much fuel available to light up,” said co-author Dr. Jimmy Irwin, assistant professor in UA’s department of physics and astronomy. “This black hole is a poster child for this problem.”

There are at least two possible explanations for this discrepancy. The first is that much less material actually falls onto the black hole than flows inside the Bondi radius. Another possibility is that the conversion of energy into radiation is much less efficient than is assumed.

Different models describing the flow of material onto the black hole make different predictions for how quickly the density of the gas is seen to rise as it approaches the black hole. A more precise determination of the rise in density from future observations should help astronomers rule out some of these models.

The Daily Galaxy via University of Alabama

Image credit: NGC 3115This composite image contains X-rays from Chandra (blue) and optical data from the VLT (gold) of the galaxy NGC 3115.

Comments

[Marijn Degens]

I think it should say "2 Billion Times Mass of the Sun"? Not size....

[Zodiac Dates]

Thats prety big!

[WoW Hunter Guide]

It truly is amazing that there are other objects out there of that size.

[Who Knows]

When a SBH lets loose (perhaps rotational velocity achieves c), I'll bet that it makes a really BB ... not THE Big Bang, but there is enough mass here to create a whole new galaxy.

[Aleina]

It is beyond man's imagination.

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[Eric]

Black hole sun, won't you come...

[Elizabeth]

Black hole sun, won't you come...

[Elizabeth]

that sucks

[Alexis]

So, I'm a little high right now, and seeing this was really freaking funny. To me at least. yea.

[Alexis]

I'm not high and it is funny.

[Sarah]

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[Sarah]

didn't know we'd lost it.....

how about 'discovered'?

[scientist]

you people are clearly idiots.. it says the thing is 2 billion times the mass of the sun.. that's not that interesting considering the sun is made of hydrogen and helium and is super heated so the gas density is for all purposes MUCH MUCH less than the air that fills the gap between the brain and your skulls... meanwhile, you have a black hole that's, in practice, a giant mega-rock that's so heavy that gravity causes its matter to collapse into itself further than your teeny brains could imagine... next time you decide to use your thinker for good, try to imagine how large a fart i would need to let out for it to be as heavy as a penny... why are you even PEOPLE????? i'm so glad most of you are drug addicts who beat their significant others.. please aim for the reproductive organs, ladies and gentlemen..

[Vsams14]

@scientist. You may not have noticed this but the title says "Black Hole 2 Billion Times SIZE..."
I agree, there are some fundamental errors with all "daily galaxy" but a black hole 2 billion times the size of our sun means that it is one of the most massive objects in the universe. A black hole this large would have several thousand -i tons per centimeter, meaning it's mass is so quantitatively large it would take me a while just to write it. IN SCIENTIFIC NOTATION.

[ray ban sale]

it is one of the most massive objects in the universe. A black hole this large would have several thousand -i tons per centimeter, meaning it's mass is so quantitatively large it would take me a while just to write it. IN SCIENTIFIC NOTATION.

[pandora uk]

next time you decide to use your thinker for good, try to imagine how large a fart i would need to let out for it to be as heavy as a penny... why are you even PEOPLE????? i'm so glad most of you are drug addicts who beat their significant others.. please aim for the reproductive organs,

[HoloGramUniverse.Wordpress.com]

CHARGE is analogous to MASS. Charge separation likely forms both matter and anti-matter, accelerating particles by magnetic fields and not by dark energy. These gases get hot and form plasma, even plasma dust exists in cold outer space. Gravity is not necessary to explain the bondi radius. The correct interpretation is that Maxwell's EM equations are the real representative forces, and not the dark matter and black holes interpretation by relativity. "Black holes" separate charged plasma and have north and south poles, so a mass of 200 billion suns is actually the amount of charge separtion, which increases as the size of the structures increase. Big-bang gravity scientists are the real pseudo-scientists who delude society with their nonsense dark matter theories.

Holographicgalaxy.blogspot.com

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I like astronomy. it's one of my favorite when i was in school. thanks!

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This is a good astronomical sights. pretty much amazing.

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What a nice picture you're having in here. thanks!

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[Blah]

@ "scientist"

"the sun is made of hydrogen and helium and is super heated so the gas density is for all purposes MUCH MUCH less than the air that fills the gap between the brain and your skulls"

Eeeer... yeah, you don't really know what you're talking about, do you? The Sun's average density is 1.4 times the density of water.

[tutorials forum]

it is one of the most massive objects in the universe