Um monstro cósmico.
Tom 618: A Cosmic Monster
Overview of Tom 618
- Tom 618 is one of the largest and most massive black holes discovered, located approximately 18 billion light-years from Earth.
- It has a mass around 66 billion times that of the Sun, making it an extraordinary cosmic entity.
- The event horizon of Tom 618 measures about 390 billion kilometers in diameter, which is over 40 times the distance from the Sun to Neptune.
Quasar Activity
- Tom 618 powers an extremely bright quasar due to vast amounts of matter falling into it.
- As this matter forms a superheated disk around the black hole, it releases immense energy, resulting in significant luminosity.
- The brightness of this quasar surpasses that of its host galaxy, complicating detailed observations of the galaxy itself.
Implications of Light Travel Time
- The light we observe from Tom 618 today left it billions of years ago, meaning its current state could be even more massive than what we see now.
- This suggests that Tom 618 may have consumed additional matter over time, potentially increasing its size beyond current estimates.