Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to find a black hole in the star cluster 8,000 times bigger than our sun. This dark hole is unique. It is vast but not the biggest. Giant black holes or gravity pits are in the center of galaxies. They can hold millions of suns.
Scientists looked for medium black holes, which are hard to find. These show how gravity pits form and grow.
Medium dark holes are 100 to 100,000 times the size of the sun. Scientists have yet to find them, and they wonder why.
Omega Centauri Cluster Reveals Hidden Medium Black Hole
Maximilian Häberle works at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. He wanted to find one. He looked at a star cluster called Omega Centauri. It is 17,000 light-years away.
Dark holes cannot be seen. Their gravity pulls in light. But they affect nearby objects. Scientists look for these effects. The Hubble Space Telescope watches Omega Centauri. It takes pictures every year. This helps to check its instruments.
Häberle and his team used these pictures to measure the movement of 1.4 million stars, which move in all directions like insects.
Seven stars in the center moved fast. They should have flown away, but they stayed. Something weighty held them.
This heavy thing is a medium gravity pits. It is at least 8,000 times bigger than the sun. If it was much bigger, more stars would move fast.
In 2008, astronauts said they found a medium black hole there. But others did not agree.
Häberle is sure this time. He has more years of data.
The James Webb Space Telescope will check next. It will look for gas falling into the dark hole. This will give more proof.
To read our blog on “A massive black hole awakens with brightest cosmic fireworks,” click here