The central supermassive black hole of a recently discovered galaxy is far larger than should be possible, according to current theories of galactic evolution. New work, carried out by astronomers at Keele University and the University of Central Lancashire, shows that the black hole is much more massive than it should be, compared to the mass of the galaxy around it. The scientists publish their results in a paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

SAGE0536AGN, from the Vista Magellanic Clouds survey. The galaxy is the elliptical object in the centre of the frame.The galaxy, SAGE0536AGN, was initially discovered with NASA's Spitzer space telescope in infrared light. Thought to be at least 9 billion years old, it contains an active galactic nucleus (AGN), an incredibly bright object resulting from the accretion of gas by a central supermassive black hole. The gas is accelerated to high velocities due to the black hole's immense gravitational field, causing this gas to emit light.

The team has now also confirmed the presence of the black hole by measuring the speed of the gas moving around it. Using the Southern African Large Telescope, the scientists observed that an emission line of hydrogen in the galaxy spectrum (where light is dispersed into its different colours – a similar effect is seen using a prism) is broadened through the Doppler Effect, where the wavelength (colour) of light from objects is blue- or red-shifted depending on whether they are moving towards or away from us. The degree of broadening implies that the gas is moving around at high speed, a result of the strong gravitational field of the black hole.

[link to www.ras.org.uk]

Ol' universe never ceases to amaze us