'Supermassive' black holes aren't as big as we thought, scientists say

"Scientists say that these galactic giants might not actually be as big as we thought. Researchers from the University of Southampton used a powerful new tool to measure the black hole at the core of an infant galaxy 12 billion light-years from Earth. Their analysis revealed that this 'supermassive' black hole is actually 10 times smaller than expected. The scientists say that earlier methods for measuring black holes haven't been accurately predicting the mass of these colossal voids."

"Professor Hoenig says: 'We have been wondering for years how it's possible we discovered all these fully grown supermassive black holes in very young galaxies shortly after the Big Bang. 'They shouldn't have had the time to grow that massive.' In a new study, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, Professor Hoenig and his co-authors argue that the answer is surprisingly simple: supermassive black holes aren't actually that big."

"Black holes are objects formed by the collapse of dying stars, so dense that not even light can escape their gravitational pull. Scientists believe that supermassive black holes - black holes with a mass at least 100,000 times greater than the sun - formed very soon after the Big Bang. Over the billions of years that followed, these early black holes grew to enormous sizes by feeding on gases and eventually gathered entire galaxies in their vast orbits."

Researchers measured a black hole at the core of an infant galaxy 12 billion light-years away using a powerful new tool and found its mass about ten times smaller than expected. Earlier measurement methods appear unreliable in the early universe and may have systematically overestimated the masses of the largest black holes. Supermassive black holes are thought to form soon after the Big Bang and grow by accreting gas, influencing galaxy formation. The revised, lower masses reduce the tension over how such massive black holes could form so quickly and may require updates to cosmic evolution models.

Read at Mail Online