Possible monster blackholes?

The apparent development of a large void of some billion light-years in diameter in the Constellation Eridanus appears to be improbable given current cosmological models. A radical and controversial theory proposes that it is a "universe-in-mass black hole" rather than hypothetical dark matter responsible for the phenomenon described as the expanding-accelerating universe. This radical theory of cosmology suggests that stars at the edge of the Hubble length universe are being consumed by a universe-in-mass black hole.

In August of 2007, astronomers at the University of Minnesota located a gigantic hole in the universe. This empty space, stretching nearly a billion light-years across, is devoid of any matter such as galaxies, stars, and gas, and neither does it contain the strange and mysterious dark matter, which can be detected but not seen.

Empty places in the universe are not uncommon. It is already known that matter tends to clump and form stars and galaxies, clusters and superclusters, due to the pulling force of gravity. So astronomers have already seen places in the universe where there are groups of matter and places where matter is more scarce. But this new discovery is much larger than any previously known "hole".

“Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size,” explains Lawrence Rudnick of the University of Minnesota. Rudnick was one of the researchers to find the hole.

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Deep Space Astronomy

I am speechless...

[edit on 26/5/2010 by loner007]

Mod Note: Starting A New Thread – Please Review This Link

[edit on Wed May 26 2010 by Jbird]

Anyway, what an interesting discovery!! I love to hear about stuff like this. We are constantly finding out new and interesting things about the universe we live in, some are mind boggling.

Good thread, OP!

edit: removed image, need to read up about black holes

[edit on 26-5-2010 by nunya13]

Originally posted by nunya13



Here's the image posted. Is it the one they are talking about?

Anyway, what an interesting discovery!! I love to hear about stuff like this. We are constantly finding out new and interesting things about the universe we live in, some are mind boggling.

Good thread, OP!

Nope, you can't actually see a black hole, we can only measure the gravitational effects it produces.

reply to post by hippomchippo


Ah, thanks. So it was just a depiction. I thought so, but wasn't sure. I'm still learning about black holes. They amaze me and boggle my mind! Thanks for the info.

You could hypothesise from this that if the visible universe is being drawn into a universe mass black hole then the big bang could be the point where one of these black holes reached a tipping point and went 'supernova' on an enormous scale. If these were found to exist it could completely alter our perception of where the universe came from. Our universe could simply be a tiny space within an even bigger universe, nestled among a few of these super black holes.

The physics governing these could be even more exciting than quantum physics. They may just hold the key to a unified theory.

Given that each one, if it were to explode, would do so differently to another, then one could assume that the recently proffered idea of a multiverse would be to some extent proven. The difference being tha the universes found within it would in fact be spaces within and the sum of these parts would be the universe.

I hope to god you re still with me!

Originally posted by digdeep
You could hypothesise from this that if the visible universe is being drawn into a universe mass black hole then the big bang could be the point where one of these black holes reached a tipping point and went 'supernova' on an enormous scale. If these were found to exist it could completely alter our perception of where the universe came from. Our universe could simply be a tiny space within an even bigger universe, nestled among a few of these super black holes.

The physics governing these could be even more exciting than quantum physics. They may just hold the key to a unified theory.

Given that each one, if it were to explode, would do so differently to another, then one could assume that the recently proffered idea of a multiverse would be to some extent proven. The difference being tha the universes found within it would in fact be spaces within and the sum of these parts would be the universe.

I hope to god you re still with me!

But the question of where did all the matter come from and thus those black holes would still remain unanswered. =)

But can you even imagine something that big? A BILLION light years wide black hole. I'd like to name it "The End".

Originally posted by Slih_09
But can you even imagine something that big? A BILLION light years wide black hole. I'd like to name it "The End".

If I am understanding the article correctly the black hole contains a singularity which may have the mass of an entire universe (which Google informs me is between 10e53 kg to 10e60 kg in the case of our particular universe, although surely this number would now double with the "discovery" of this hypothetical object?) and has a Schwarzschild radius of around half a billion light years to give an event horizon of a billion years? Is that correct? Because I am by no means an expert on the subject.

Anyway those are truly mind boggling numbers, my gut instinct tells me that this just can not be the case and that astronomers will find another explanation for this empty space. Why can't empty space be just that anyway, empty space with no super hyper massive black hole to fill it? I know they say that nature abhors a vacuum but I was under the impression that space was rather fond of it?

I feel a bit confused by the DailyGalaxy article. It talks about a number of different things.

I don't really get the link between the one billion light years wide empty region of space 6-10 billion light years away and the universe sized black hole beyond the edge of the observable galaxy. The VIRGOHI21 'dark galaxy' seems even more unrelated.



[edit on 26-5-2010 by BlankSlate]

reply to post by BlankSlate

Virgoh121 is a super massive blackhole that has swallowed all the stars of its galaxy and has the gravity of an entire galaxy, an estimated total mass of about 1/10th the Milky Way, ten times more dark matter than ordinary matter, and is surrounded by vast clouds of hydrogen. Because of its galaxy-in-mass gravity, VIRGOHI21 has pulled up to 2000 galaxies toward it, creating the Virgo Cluster. Our galaxy the milky way is being pulled towards the great attractor which lies in the virgo super cluster of galaxies. Care to think what that great attractor is?????

Our universe is an estimated 12-13 billion years old and we have a hole in space that is 3.5 billion light years across. In other words this void has been expanding at a rate 4 times slower than the expansion of the universe. No current model of our understanding of the universe can account for such a huge space devoid of everything. Unless this region of space is the centre of the universe....

[edit on 26/5/2010 by loner007]

Originally posted by Slih_09

Originally posted by digdeep

But can you even imagine something that big? A BILLION light years wide black hole. I'd like to name it "The End".

id like to name it 'The Beginning'