Telescopes Find Fastest-Feeding Black Hole!
Astronomers using NASA telescopes have found LID-568, a supermassive black hole feasting on space matter 40 times faster than expected!
Astronomers across the world have spotted an astonishing sight in deep space: the fastest-feeding black hole ever seen! On 4 November 2024, an international team led by Dr. Hyewon Suh from the International Gemini Observatory and NSF NOIRLab in Hawaii revealed this record-breaking space giant called LID-568.
This supermassive black hole is seen as it existed when our universe was young, just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. By combining data from two famous space eyes—NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory—the team watched this celestial monster gulp down matter at an unbelievable speed.
What happened?
Black holes normally have a theoretical speed limit for eating, which scientists call the Eddington limit. When gas falls towards a black hole, it becomes extremely hot and shines brightly, pushing outward with radiation pressure. At the exact same time, the black hole’s powerful gravity pulls matter inward. Usually, these two forces balance each other so the black hole feeds slowly.
However, LID-568 shattered this rule by feeding on matter at a rate over 40 times higher than its Eddington limit! LID-568 is also massive, weighing roughly 7.2 million times the mass of our Sun. That makes it significantly heavier than Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole located at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy.
How could LID-568 devour so much gas without pushing its meal away? Scientists examined it using the Integral Field Spectrograph on the Webb telescope’s NIRSpec instrument. They spotted powerful gas outflows racing outwards at speeds between 500 and 600 kilometres per second. Researchers believe these high-speed outflows act like a cosmic safety valve, letting the black hole gorge itself rapidly without blowing all its food into outer space.
This amazing discovery helps solve a long-standing cosmic mystery. For many years, astronomers wondered how early black holes grew into giants so quickly. LID-568 proves that black holes can swell through single, rapid feeding frenzies rather than slow buildup over billions of years.
Why does it matter to you?
When you look up into the night sky from your home in India, you are looking out into an exciting universe full of secrets. Discoveries like this show how scientists work like super-detectives by joining forces and combining data from different instruments. It proves that nature still holds wonderful surprises that can challenge scientific rules and inspire young students to explore space science.
Words to know
- Black hole: an object in space with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from it.
- Supermassive: an astronomical term describing objects that have millions or billions of times the mass of our Sun.
- Eddington limit: the balance point where outward radiation pressure matches the inward pull of gravity.
- Accreting: the process of pulling in and collecting gas and space matter from the surrounding area.
Did you know?
Did you know that LID-568 is far heavier than Sagittarius A*, the giant black hole resting at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy?
Think about it
Why do you think space telescopes need to work together like a team to explore ancient cosmic objects? If you were an astronomer, which mystery of the universe would you try to solve first?
Quick quiz
At what rate is the black hole LID-568 consuming matter compared to its theoretical limit?
- Over 40 times its limit
- Exactly at its limit
- Half of its limit
See the answer
Over 40 times its limit
Sources
This story was prepared by the Kids Gazette news desk with the help of AI research and writing tools, using the sources listed above.
