Astronomers under the leadership of REMCO van den Bosch (Remco van den Bosch) from the Institute of astronomy of max Plank Society (Germany) has opened an exceptional phenomenon - a supermassive black hole weighing more than any other known. She 14-20 billion times heavier than the Sun, so in 4 thousand times larger than the largest supermassive black hole in our Galaxy.

Red arrow highlighted the galaxy NGC 1277, the center of which is a colossal SMCD. For comparison, given the sizes of the orbits of the planets of the Solar system, can fully fit inside this giant. (Fig. SDSS, Phys.Org.)

What is most unusual is the supergiant hole located in the center of relatively small lenticular galaxy NGC 1277, located at a distance of 220 million light years from Earth in the constellation Perseus. It is so small that ten times inferior to the milky Way by mass - only 120 billion of our suns. Thus, SMCD in its center weighs 11,7-16,7% of the total mass of the galaxy is something completely unimaginable. Usually SMCD rarely exceed 0.1% of the mass of the nucleus of the galaxy (Sagittarius A* very far from such a modest share). But in its galactic core of the newly discovered SMCD has more than half of the masses, that is, weighs more than all the stars of the galactic center together. However, the one in NGC 1277 itself is small, even on the background of this small galaxy, what researchers call it "pseudoranges". It is also unusual: the typical lenticular galaxies bulge larger in relation to the diameter of the galaxy than in a spiral - like us.

Itself SMCD, judging by its mass shall be very large - more than 300. E. in diameter, while Sagittarius A*, say, a diameter of at least a thousand times smaller.

The discovery, made with the help of telescope Hobby-Eberle (Texas, USA), made almost by accident: astronomers have attracted the highest speed of rotation of the stars in the center of this galaxy. Specification of data using images Hubble has allowed to establish that the guilty in this huge gravity SMCD overclocking the rotation close to it of stars.

Usually the proportionality SMCD in the galactic nucleus and the galaxy is caused by the fact that they are what is called, grew up together: BH were sustained by the mass of the galaxy, and if that was not too large, intensive feeding of its gas formally could not be and speeches. Therefore, one would assume that this SMCD got NGC 1277 from some of the more massive after a collision with it. But hardly this lenticular galaxy with anything encountered: there are a lot of old stars and no traces of distortion patterns.

Whatever I'm so obvious and yet explained the disproportion between very modest dimensions NGC 1277 and its truly colossal black hole, it's probably not a unique departure from the General rule. In a similar study, the researchers discovered an abnormal variation in speed of stars kernel for another five lenticular galaxies. Although a clear picture of all aspects of such acceleration has not yet been established, after further observations, scientists believe, you can try to systematize the phenomenon.

As an intermediate theory REMCO van den Bosch put forward the version that the galaxy may contain in its centre remains SMCD-supervisora such as those that are known from the early history of the Universe. Of course, in this case the question remains, what do such a disproportionately huge SMCD in a relatively small number of galaxies and why it is not in all other...

Report on the study published in the journal Nature., but its Preprint available here.

Prepared according to Ars Technica.