The number of black holes in the observable universe was calculated as an estimate. According to a new study, there are “40 billion billion” black holes (40,000,000,000,000,000,000 in numbers) in the universe. Considering that only one percent of the ordinary matter in the universe consists of black holes, it becomes clear once again how enormous the universe is.
A well-attended research by Alex Sicilia, PhD student from Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati in Italy, and his advisors, has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Sicily didn’t really count black holes, of course. The research is based on the fact that most black holes are formed by the collapse of stars with a mass 20 times that of the Sun. The mass of the resulting object is 5-160 times greater than the Sun, and its gravity is so high that even light cannot escape from it. Using the estimated number of stars that have appeared since the big bang, Sicilia calculated how many black holes remained, using a special computer program.
In addition to calculating the number of black holes, the study also provides an estimate of the distribution of their mass. The authors have calculated that 1 percent of the baryonic matter in the universe is locked in star-sized black holes. Baryonic matter is made up of known protons and neutrons, sometimes referred to as “ordinary” matter, and is the opposite of dark matter of unknown composition and even more mysterious dark energy.
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