Astronomers Discover a Black Hole , Devouring the Equivalent , of One Earth Per Second.
Space.com reports that
scientists have detected the
fastest-growing black hole ever seen.
The black hole has a mass 3 billion
times that of the sun and devours the mass
equivalent to an entire Earth every second.
According to an international research team,
the black hole's rapid consumption rate
is causing it to grow extremely fast. .
The enormous black hole is now 500 times larger
than Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole
at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Space.com reports that other, similarly massive black holes , stopped growing billions of years ago. .
Now, we want to know
why this one is different  —  
did something catastrophic happen?, Christopher Onken, lead researcher at the Research
School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian
National University (ANU), via Space.com.
Perhaps two big galaxies crashed
into each other, funneling a whole lot
of material onto the black hole to feed it, Christopher Onken, lead researcher at the Research
School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian
National University (ANU), via Space.com.
The black hole's rapid accretion of matter
is also resulting in a quasar 7,000 times brighter
than the light from every star in the Milky Way.
The discovery was made by the
Siding Spring Observatory in Australia as part
of the SkyMapper Southern Sky Survey. .
Astronomers have been
hunting for objects like this
for more than 50 years, Christopher Onken, lead researcher at the Research
School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian
National University (ANU), via Space.com.
Details of the discovery were published in the journal , 'Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.'