The black hole masses derived by Hlavacek-Larrondo and her colleagues were about ten times larger than those derived from standard relationships between black hole mass and the properties of their host galaxy. This relationship, called the fundamental plane of black hole activity, fits the data on black holes with masses ranging from 10 solar masses to a billion solar masses. The researchers estimated the masses of the black holes in the sample by using an established relationship between masses of black holes, and the amount of X-rays and radio waves they generate. "Our results show that there may be many more ultramassive black holes in the universe than previously thought," said study leader Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo of Stanford University and formerly of Cambridge University in the UK. Astronomers refer to black holes of this size as "ultramassive" black holes and only know of a few confirmed examples. The work suggests that at least ten of the galaxies contain an ultramassive black hole, weighing between 10 and 40 billion times the mass of the sun.
This analysis has looked at the brightest galaxies in a sample of 18 galaxy clusters, to target the largest black holes. Typically, these black holes, located at the centers of galaxies, have masses ranging between a few million and a few billion times that of our sun.
View large image Some of the biggest black holes in the Universe may actually be even bigger than previously thought, according to a study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.Īstronomers have long known about the class of the largest black holes, which they call "supermassive" black holes. (X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford/Hlavacek-Larrondo, J. A large elliptical galaxy at the center of the galaxy cluster PKS 0745-19.
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