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Black Hole at the Maximum Mass Limit Confirmed Inside the Cosmic Horseshoe

2025-08-15 Science & Technology
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Anton Petrov
Anton Petrov
1.6m subscribers

Confirmation: One of the Most Massive Black Holes Ever Found Inside the Cosmic Horseshoe

Discover the confirmed mass of an ultramassive black hole, nearing 36.3 billion solar masses, hidden within the famous Cosmic Horseshoe Einstein lens. Understand why this object challenges the current theoretical growth limit for black holes in the universe.

Short Summary

  • Scientists confirmed an ultramassive black hole (36.3 billion solar masses) residing in the galaxy SDSS J1 1148 + 1930.
  • Researchers leveraged strong gravitational lensing analysis combined with stellar dynamics (Hubble data) for a high-confidence measurement.
  • The black hole’s size pushes near the theoretical maximum growth limit predicted by the Eddington luminosity principle over cosmic time.

This discussion details the recent peer-reviewed confirmation of an extreme black hole found accidentally within the familiar Cosmic Horseshoe image. This finding provides a robust case study for measuring black hole mass via gravitational distortion and stellar motion techniques while highlighting major unexplained gaps in black hole evolutionary theory.

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Description

Support this channel on Patreon to help me make this a full time job: https://www.patreon.com/whatdamath (Unreleased videos, extra footage, DMs, no ads) Alternatively, PayPal donations can be sent here: http://paypal.me/whatdamath Get a Wonderful Person Tee: https://teespring.com/stores/whatdamath More cool designs are on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QFIrFX Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about a confirmation for one of the most massive black holes ever seen found inside the famous Cosmic Horseshoe Einstein lens Links: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/541/4/2853/8213862?login=false https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13788 Other videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKh5IS3J5m8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxDg7qm9nu8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkdAbOS9AcA #blackhole #ultramassive #einsteinlens 0:00 Ultramassive black holes 1:10 Study about this 1:40 Why ultramassive black holes are hard to explain 3:20 Cosmic Horseshoe lens and new observations 6:40 Why this matters 7:20 Galaxy is important too! 9:00 Additional explanations 10:05 Unanswered questions Enjoy and please subscribe Bitcoin/Ethereum to spare? Donate them here to help this channel grow! bc1qnkl3nk0zt7w0xzrgur9pnkcduj7a3xxllcn7d4 or ETH: 0x60f088B10b03115405d313f964BeA93eF0Bd3DbF Thank you to all Patreon supporters of this channel Special thanks also goes to all the wonderful supporters of the channel through YouTube Memberships Licenses used: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ and relevant Creative Commons licenses

Top Comments (10)

@OhhCrapGuy 2025-08-16

Note: this maximum isn't us saying "it can't get larger", it's us saying "if we find something bigger, we'll know for sure we are missing something in our current models"

774 26 replies
@maxhaxx 2025-08-16

Anton remains the best science communicator on YouTube. No BS for more years than I can remember. Massive respect for his talent and dedication.

482 27 replies
@merelythepawn 2025-08-15

And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint. It’s only a tiny, little thin one.

329 28 replies
@samuelsmith9582 2025-08-15

So this black hole appears to have grown at the maximum theoretical rate since the beginning of the universe? That's wild.

288 30 replies
@James_H-w4r 2025-08-15

Im at my maximum mass limit too, need to go on a diet lol

184 12 replies
@ToxicityAssured 2025-08-15

Still one of the best science channels on YouTube. THANK YOU ANTON!!!

166 3 replies
@goosemanVEVO 2025-08-16

Before anyone else posts a sarcastic comment, he explains wht the title means in the first 3 minutes. Just watch the video.

72 2 replies
@setorious 2025-08-16

i just think Anton is a cool guy. Thanks again for looking into this stuff and sharing so much info.

36
@mindzx 2025-08-16

1:45 REPUBLIC OF GAMERS

8
@EllieShockley 2025-08-27

My husband and I call him "our buddy Anton"

1

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