ⓘ NASA – Unsplash
An image showing a black hole in the universe.
Astronomers have recently discovered a black hole with a mass of about 50 billion times that of the Sun, located in a distant galaxy. And that’s not all, because a second supermassive black hole may also be present in the same galaxy.
Black holes are celestial objects that are mysterious and extremely powerful. However, a team led by Michael McDonald of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has recently discovered a huge black hole located in a distant galaxy.
Named A402-BCG, this galaxy lies about 4.4 billion light-years from Earth and belongs to the Abell 402 galaxy cluster. And regarding this discovery, astronomers explain:
“At the very center of this galaxy are two distinct features: a bright pointlike source at the galaxy center, and a kiloparsec-wide dark region to the east of this source.”
Thus, they observed it with the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, which allowed them to discover that this light source was caused by an ultramassive black hole. But that’s not all, because its mass is estimated at about 50 billion times that of the Sun.
This is an important discovery, as it is one of the most massive black holes ever discovered. Indeed, it is 25 times more massive than all the stars of the Large Magellanic Cloud, located about 158,000 light-years from Earth. And as for the Milky Way, it has a mass between 100 and 400 billion times that of the Sun, which shows the power of this black hole.
However, astronomers have also discovered a huge cavity in the A402-BCG galaxy, and to explain this phenomenon, they think that a second supermassive black hole may also be present at its center.
Alexis Stegmann – Tech Writer – 627 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2025
I’ve been working in the field of web writing for several years, and I’m passionate about keeping readers up to date with the latest news on astronomy, technology, the world of video games and other exciting subjects. In particular, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a number of websites, which has enabled me to cover a wide range of subjects. In my personal life, I’m passionate about a wide range of subjects, including astronomy, video games, history and science. I’m also drawn to psychology, which is a subject that deserves greater documentation and recognition.