Watch out, Earth! Scientists have discovered a massive black hole in our universe, one that weighs the equivalent of 17 billions suns! While the size of this black hole is very significant, something that makes it even more unique is it’s location in our universe. According to astronomers, black holes this size are almost always found in the center of galaxies that are located in an area of the universe that is “packed” with other galaxies. One example of this is a massive 21 billion sun size black hole that was found in the crowded Coma Galaxy Cluster which has consists of well over 1 thousand galaxies! The black hole recently found is located in a cluster with just 20 other galaxies.
This is significant as it tells us that there may be more black holes out there than we thought! As one scientist put it, “maybe there are more monster black holes out there that don’t live in a skyscraper in Manhattan, but in a tall building somewhere in the Midwestern plains.” The black hole is located about 200 million light years from Earth, and don’t worry, we are not likely to run into it any time soon
