A look at the Cosmic Horseshoe and its gravitational lens, where a supermassive black hole is likely hidden. (Image credit: NASA/ESA)
A new study has shown that a huge galaxy system known as the “Cosmic Horseshoe” likely hosts a giant black hole 36 billion times the mass of our Sun – one of the largest ever seen in the Universe.
Researchers identified the cosmic giant by studying a halo of light called an “Einstein ring,” which acts as a kind of gravitational lens. Lensing occurs when a massive foreground object, such as a galaxy cluster or a black hole, warps spacetime, magnifying the light of more distant objects behind it.
The discovery of the supermassive black hole was documented on August 7 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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Sourse: www.livescience.com
