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Last week researchers at Durham University announced they had measured the mass of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy Abell 1201 at 32 billion times heavier than the Sun. It's so massive that people describe ti as an "ultramassive black hole". In this video we chat about the brand new method they used to get at this measurement and why that's so exciting. #blackhole #astrophysics #space

Nightingale et al. (2023; ultramassive black hole in Abell 1201) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.15514.pdf
McConnell et al. (2011; NGC 4889 & A3358 SMBH measurement) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1112.1078.pdf
Dullo et al. (2021; NGC 6166 SMBH measurement) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2012.04471.pdf
Shemmer et al. (2004; TON 618 SMBH measurement; Table 2) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/040655...
Haring & Rix (2004; correlation of SMBH mass with stellar mass) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/040237...
McConnell & Ma (2013; correlation of SMBH mass with velocity dispersion) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1211.2816
Hopkins et al. (2007; correlation of SMBH with galaxy radius) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/0707.4005.pdf
Smethurst et al. (2023; my research on scatter in SMBH correlations without galaxy mergers) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2211.13677.pdf

My previous video on TON 618 and the maximum mass a SMBH can have:    • How massive can black holes grow?  

More information on the Vera Rubin Observatory - https://rubinobs.org/

00:00 - Introduction
00:17 - When does a black hole become "ultramassive"?
00:36 - The biggest black holes we know of
01:27 - How do we normally measure the mass of supermassive black holes?
05:25 - The correlations between black holes and their galaxies
06:31 - Gravitational lensing and black hole masses
08:22 - The best fit model to Abell 1201
10:25 - The future of this method with JWST and VRO
11:28 - Durham University ❤️
11:51 - Brilliant
13:07 - Bloopers

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👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.


http://drbecky.uk.com
https://rebeccasmethurst.co.uk