NASA detects a very unusual black hole that contradicts our theories about the universe

At the heart of the NGC 3147 spiral galaxy, located 130 million light-years away, the Hubble telescope detected a black hole with amazing features. 

It would be a supermassive black hole as can be expected in the center of many galaxies. We continue to refine our knowledge of these cosmic objects, so dense that nothing seems to escape, not even light. Now, according to our current knowledge, the one we are talking about today simply should not exist.

A black hole "hungry"

Indeed, this black hole represents 250 million solar masses, according to the publication of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, dated July 11th. What questions astronomers is the presence of a thin accretion disk, formed by gases and other debris, in rapid rotation around the celestial body. In fact, the data collected show that the gravitational field of the black hole captures only a reduced quantity of matter, the usual characteristic of " hungry  " black holes. Consequently, this cosmic object should not have such an accretion disk, generally reserved for black holes called "  satiated  ". 

"  It's the same kind of record that we can see on objects being 1 000 to 100 000 times more luminous," said Stefano Bianchi in a press release, "  The predictions of current models on the dynamics of gas in galaxies weakly active have clearly failed.  "

Data that contradicts current models

The stars in the galaxy NGC 3147 make observation difficult, but thanks to a specific instrument of the Hubble telescope, astronomers were able to separate the brightness generated by the stars and observe the rotating material around the black hole at an estimated speed of 10% of the speed of light. 

"  It is intriguing to see a disc so close to a black hole, whose intensity of gravitational attraction affects the way we perceive photons,  " says Stefano Bianchi. 

If according to current models this type of black hole should not exist, this discovery pushes astronomers to predict the observation of other galaxies with Hubble, hoping to find new similar manifestations of this phenomenon, and further deepen our knowledge of these surprising cosmic objects.