Astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole.
Imagine trying on a new pair of glasses, you notice a monster! This is exactly what happened when the ASKAP antennas were directed toward the group of three merging galaxies at 1.8 billion light years from us.
This monster has become supermassive black hole 3 billion times more massive than the Sun.
All galaxies, as scientists believe, are home to huge black holes in their center, but discovered a black hole is a giant even by cosmic standards. It is 750 times more than the black hole at the center of the milky Way, the mass of which is estimated at a modest 4 million Suns. Black holes grow by absorbing other black holes that get too close. In the event, discovered during testing of the ASKAP antennas, merged together the three black holes of galaxies.
Dr. Lisa Harvey-Smith of the State Association scientific and applied research Australia, and her team knew about the strong source of radio waves known as astrophysical maser, and has written an array of antennas to it. The results were checked by using an array of radio telescopes ATCA in Narrabri, Both arrays detected a gas moving in a vortex with a speed about 600 kilometres per second. Knowing the speed of the gas, scientists have measured the mass of the black hole, which was the cause of the cosmic vortex.
When ASKAP (the Australian way-search the array area in square kilometers) will be completed, it will have 36 identical antennas 12 meters in diameter that will work together. The project will be completed by 2018. Currently, nine of the antennas are at the stage of commissioning and testing. The scientific program will start when will be ready the first 12 antennas. ASKAP will allow you to explore a huge area of the sky much faster than traditional radio telescopes.
