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‘A monster in space’: Astronomers just found a 36-billion-solar-mass black hole

Produced by: Manoj Kumar

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Create an image of a colossal black hole lurking in the heart of the Cosmic Horseshoe galaxy 25-02-2025 at 12-09-56

Hidden Giant

A 36-billion-solar-mass black hole lurks in the Cosmic Horseshoe galaxy, making it one of the most massive ever detected. It’s rewriting what we know about black hole formation.

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Illustrate the Cosmic Horseshoe’s Einstein Ring — a perfect circle of light caused by gravitational 25-02-2025 at 12-10-38

Gravitational Mirage

The Cosmic Horseshoe’s perfect Einstein Ring is caused by gravitational lensing, where a massive foreground galaxy bends light from a distant one—revealing secrets of deep space.

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Visualize an ultra-massive black hole dwarfing entire galaxies, with massive accretion disks spirali 25-02-2025 at 12-11-48

Ultra-Massive Scale

Scientists call black holes over 5 billion solar masses “Ultra-Massive Black Holes.” This one is nearly seven times larger than the biggest black holes in most galaxies.

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Depict stars orbiting wildly around a black hole, moving in chaotic, unpredictable paths 25-02-2025 at 12-12-26

Breaking the Rules

A black hole’s mass usually correlates with the speed of nearby stars, but this one defies the expected pattern, hinting at unknown cosmic forces at play.

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A Fossil in Space

The host galaxy, LRG 3-757, may be a fossil group—a remnant of ancient galactic mergers that left it isolated, shaping the extreme black hole at its core.

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Galactic Devourer

When galaxies merge, their central black holes expel nearby stars, altering their growth. This process, called scouring, may explain why LRG 3-757’s black hole is so massive.

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Echo of a Quasar

Some UMBHs may have been hyper-luminous quasars in the early universe. If true, this black hole was once a cosmic beacon before settling into obscurity.

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Next-Level Discoveries

The Euclid mission and upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will uncover thousands of gravitational lenses, leading to more record-breaking black hole finds.

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A New Cosmic Puzzle

Does the biggest black hole form before or because of a massive galaxy? The Cosmic Horseshoe raises new questions about how these celestial giants evolve.

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