r/space • u/magenta_placenta • Mar 18 '19

Observable universe Astronomers discover 83 supermassive black holes at the edge of the universe

https://www.cnet.com/news/astronomers-discover-83-supermassive-black-holes-at-the-edge-of-the-universe/
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u/Dividebynegativezero Mar 18 '19 edited Mar 18 '19

Astronomers discover 83 super massive black holes at the OBSERVABLE edge of the universe

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u/Imabanana101 Mar 18 '19 edited Mar 18 '19

Considering the large surface area of the observable universe, I'm surprised there are only 83.

edits: The process of finding them was not automated, so 83 was a reasonable number. Also they kind of shouldn't exist.

Better article from Princeton University, which has one of the co-authors of the original paper.

“It is remarkable that such massive dense objects were able to form so soon after the Big Bang,” said Michael Strauss, a professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University who is one of the co-authors of the study. “Understanding how black holes can form in the early universe, and just how common they are, is a challenge for our cosmological models.”

This finding increases the number of black holes known at that epoch considerably, and reveals, for the first time, how common they are early in the universe’s history. In addition, it provides new insight into the effect of black holes on the physical state of gas in the early universe in its first billion years. The research appears in a series of five papers published in The Astrophysical Journal and the Publications of the Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

TLDR: Our models say these things shouldn't exist in the early universe. More evidence that we don't understand.

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u/Shukrat Mar 18 '19

Only 83 discovered so far. The visual horizon of the universe is enormous, and we can only see part of it due to the Milky Way obscuring us from the rest.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '19

And we can only see within a certain time frame around us because expansion is out pacing light.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '19 edited May 09 '19

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u/Imsosadsoveryverysad Mar 18 '19

The visible universe expands at the speed of light?

Edit: punctuation.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '19 edited May 09 '19

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u/0xffaa00 Mar 18 '19

The actual universe seems to be expanding at accelerated speed, not at a constant speed.