Small but Powerful Black Hole has Enormous Sphere of Influence in Galaxy M83

A small but exceptionally powerful black hole has been discovered by a team of Australian and American astronomers studying a nearby galaxy.

The black hole, dubbed MQ1, is so strong that the astronomers initially believed the black hole was larger than it turned out to be. MQ1 is a stellar mass black hole, rather than a supermassive black hole. 

"MQ1 is classed as a microquasar - a black hole surrounded by a bubble of hot gas, which is heated by two jets just outside the black hole, powerfully shooting out energy in opposite directions, acting like cosmic sandblasters pushing out on the surrounding gas," said Roberto Soria a senior researcher at Curtin University and member of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).

"The significance of the huge jet power measured for MQ1 goes beyond this particular galaxy: it helps astronomers understand and quantify the strong effect that black hole jets have on the surrounding gas, which gets heated and swept away.

As that gas gets swept across the galaxy, Soria suggests it played a big role in the evolution of galaxy M83, the iconic southern-sky galaxy where the black hole is located.

About 12 billion years ago, during the early stages of galactic evolution, powerful black holes like MQ1, which are rare today, were more common, Soria said.

"By studying microquasars such as MQ1, we get a glimpse of how the early universe evolved, how fast quasars grew and how much energy black holes provided to their environment," he said, noting that microquasar SS433, the most powerful in the Milky Way, is about 10 times less powerful than MQ1.

The measurable black hole in MQ1 is only about 100 kilometers wide, the astronomers said, but it's sphere of influence is otherworldly. In totality, MQ1 is larger than our entire solar system, and the jets of gas it emits shoot out for about 20 light years from either side of the black hole, the astronomers said.

Soria and his colleagues published their account of MQ1 in the journal Science.