Outlook Web Desk
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has detected evidence for a rare intermediate-mass black hole in the globular cluster Omega Centauri.
Located about 15,000 light-years away, Omega Centauri is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way galaxy.
Hubble detected the black hole by observing the motion of stars near the cluster's centre, which suggested a massive, unseen object was pulling on them.
The stars' motions revealed a consistent pattern, indicating a heavy object was present, which is likely an intermediate-mass black hole.
The data suggest the object has a mass of approximately 40,000 times that of the sun, making it an intermediate-mass black hole.
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are the "missing link" in black hole evolution, connecting small and supermassive black holes. Only a few IMBH candidates have been discovered so far.
Intermediate-mass black holes have masses between 100 and 100,000 times that of the sun, making them harder to detect than smaller or larger black holes.
This discovery is important, as intermediate-mass black holes are rare and difficult to detect, making this one of the few confirmed cases.
If confirmed, the IMBH in Omega Centauri would be the closest known black hole to Earth, at a distance of 17,000 light-years.
Black holes are one of the most extreme environments humans are aware of, and so they are a testing ground for the laws of physics and our understanding of how the Universe works.