00:00Black holes are massive.
00:02The densest objects in the universe,
00:04they have such a mass
00:06that their gravitational force
00:08does not let anything escape, not even light.
00:10But in this terrifying world
00:12of black holes,
00:14there are monsters that surpass
00:16all the others.
00:18Recently, astronomers
00:20have discovered a black hole
00:2233 billion times heavier
00:24than our sun.
00:26This space giant is located
00:28in a supergiant elliptical galaxy
00:30called Abel 1201,
00:32located 2.7 billion light years away
00:34from our planet.
00:39This black hole is so large
00:41that it has received the rare designation
00:43of ultramassive black hole.
00:45Nothing surprising about that.
00:47It is more than 8,000 times heavier
00:49than the supermassive black hole
00:51located in the center of our galaxy,
00:53the Milky Way.
00:55This ultramassive black hole
00:57can only be discovered
00:59using the gravitational lens.
01:01This method relies on the fact
01:03that very massive objects
01:05such as galaxies
01:07curve the light coming from
01:09a more distant object
01:11and amplify it.
01:13The advantage of this research method
01:15is that it allows astronomers
01:17to study inactive black holes.
01:19It could help us detect
01:21a large number of new black holes
01:23beyond our local universe.
01:25It could also give us the opportunity
01:27to discover objects
01:29that we have never seen before.
01:31Let's now talk about another
01:33brilliant instrument
01:35that helps us to effectively
01:37explore space.
01:39The James Webb Space Telescope.
01:41When it observes young galaxies,
01:43simple red spots seen from here,
01:45it manages to see the cyclones
01:47that are moving in their center.
01:49These are black holes.
01:51It used to be believed
01:53that giant black holes
01:55were rare but important actors
01:57in the beginning of the history
01:59of the cosmos.
02:01But the James Webb Space Telescope
02:03continues to discover more and more.
02:05For example,
02:07thanks to it, astronomers
02:09have detected a supermassive black hole
02:11dating from the time
02:13when our universe was less than
02:15600 million years old.
02:17A very young child,
02:19it was the most distant
02:21active supermassive black hole
02:23ever observed.
02:25It is located in the Bouvier constellation.
02:33This black hole is surprisingly small
02:35and not at all massive.
02:37It is in fact one of the smallest
02:39found in the primitive universe.
02:41Its size is equal to about
02:439 million suns.
02:45It may seem a lot,
02:47but supermassive black holes
02:49tend to reach billions of times
02:51the mass of our star.
02:53This discovery presents
02:55another particularity that scientists
02:57have a hard time explaining.
02:59Indeed,
03:01a supermassive black hole
03:03is supposed to take well over 600 million years
03:05to reach its full potential.
03:07It develops
03:09by feeding on the matter
03:11around it or by merging
03:13with a larger black hole.
03:15Black holes comparable
03:17to the one in the center of our galaxy
03:19and whose mass is almost
03:214.3 million times
03:23higher than that of our sun
03:25are supposed to be observed
03:27in the recent universe.
03:31In fact,
03:33scientists have long suspected
03:35the existence of supermassive black holes
03:37in the primitive universe.
03:39But this theory has only been proven
03:41thanks to the James Webb telescope
03:43in the Red Space.
03:45It has shown that the black hole
03:47CRS 1019 is engulfing
03:49all the matter it finds on its path.
03:51Black holes
03:53that feed like this
03:55are usually surrounded by gas
03:57and dust swirls.
03:59This is called the accretion disk.
04:01The gravitational force of the black hole
04:03heats all this matter,
04:05which illuminates the disk.
04:07But that's not all.
04:09Very powerful magnetic fields
04:11channel the matter to the shoulder
04:13of the black hole.
04:15From time to time,
04:17this matter is released into space
04:19in the form of a powerful double jet.
04:21It moves at a speed
04:23close to that of light,
04:25which generates a radiation
04:27of incredible intensity.
04:29Astronomers have observed
04:31the galaxy that houses
04:33this very old black hole
04:35as part of a study
04:37on the primitive universe.
04:39The galaxy as it was
04:41when our universe,
04:4313.8 billion years old,
04:45was only 570 million years old.
04:47On this occasion,
04:49researchers have spotted
04:51two other black holes,
04:53probably appeared respectively
04:551 billion and 1.1 billion years
04:57after the Big Bang.
04:59They have also discovered
05:0111 ancient galaxies
05:03born between 470 and 675 million years
05:05after the birth of the cosmos.
05:09Now,
05:11what would you say to take a look
05:13at the largest black holes
05:15that astronomers have discovered
05:17so far, and to discover
05:19what would happen to Earth
05:21if one of them penetrated
05:23our solar system?
05:25NGC 6166 is a monster
05:27whose mass is equivalent
05:29to 30 billion suns.
05:31It is an elliptical galaxy
05:33with an active nucleus in its center.
05:35It is also one of the brightest
05:37X-rays that we know.
05:39The supermassive black hole
05:41of the galaxy feeds
05:43two radio-symmetric jets
05:45in opposite directions,
05:47the result of an internal gas fall.
05:49Another particularity
05:51of NGC 6166
05:53is that it has a shift towards blue,
05:55which means it is getting closer to us.
05:57Should we pack our bags
05:59and leave the solar system?
06:01The next supermassive black hole
06:03is located in the Dragon constellation,
06:05about 10.4 gigahannes
06:07light years away from us.
06:09This supergiant
06:11weighs more than 30 billion
06:13solar masses.
06:15In addition to being
06:17incredibly massive,
06:19it is also very large.
06:21If it took the place of the Sun,
06:23its diameter would extend
06:25to the orbit of Pluto.
06:27Here is a picture
06:29Here is now
06:31one of the most interesting black holes
06:33on our list.
06:35It has a mass of 40 billion suns.
06:37It is actually a blazar,
06:39a super energetic quasar,
06:41very far away
06:43and super bright.
06:45The brightness of this blazar
06:47is 300 trillion times more intense
06:49than our sun,
06:51the equivalent of 25,000 milky ways.
06:53But as the distance
06:55of this quasar is about
06:571 billion light years,
06:59we cannot see it directly.
07:03However,
07:05we know that
07:07its central black hole
07:09consumes huge amounts of matter,
07:11about 4,000 solar masses
07:13of material each year.
07:19ICI-N101 is a supergiant galaxy.
07:23It is the most massive galaxy
07:25known to this day.
07:27Given its elliptical shape,
07:29it is not filled with gas.
07:31This is why there are
07:33only a few stars in this region.
07:35As for the black hole
07:37in the center of this galaxy,
07:39it is located in a beach
07:41with 40 to 100 billion solar masses
07:43and emits relatively clear radio signals.
07:45But open your ears wide.
07:47Astronomers have discovered
07:49a gravitational wonder
07:51that has reached
07:53an unimaginable level.
07:55The black hole I am talking about
07:57is called TON 618
07:59and it has a mass of 66 billion suns.
08:01Yes,
08:03we are holding another
08:05of these ultra-massive black holes.
08:07Imagine gathering
08:09all the stars of our galaxy
08:11and compressing the matter
08:13they are made of into one black hole.
08:15Well, it would still not be enough
08:17to create TON 618.
08:19If this monster replaced the sun,
08:21its radius would be more than 40 times
08:23the size of Neptune's orbit.
08:29You know that black holes
08:31are incredibly dense.
08:33But this does not mean
08:35that they are space predators,
08:37wandering in galaxies
08:39and devouring everything in their path.
08:41TON 618, for example,
08:43is still surrounded by an intact galaxy
08:45filled with stars and many other things.
08:47Black holes are therefore
08:49not necessarily
08:51gigantic matter vacuum cleaners.
08:53In reality,
08:55it is incredibly difficult
08:57to make a black hole grow.
08:59Try it and you will see.
09:01And now,
09:03what would happen
09:05if a supermassive black hole
09:07like the one in the center of our galaxy,
09:09the Milky Way,
09:11got a little closer to our solar system?
09:13The answer is simple.
09:15We would be doomed.
09:17It would lead to the worst of disasters.
09:19The Earth, as well as the other objects
09:21that make up the solar system,
09:23would be drawn into the orbit of the black hole
09:25and would revolve around it for eternity.
09:27But you can relax.
09:29We are still far from having
09:31such black holes in our neighborhood.
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