Hubble Telescope seeks black hole.
Astronomers Search for Rare Intermediate-Sized Black Hole with NASA’s Space Telescope
In space, black holes come in two sizes: small and large. But astronomers are on the hunt for a new class of black holes, black hole.”>intermediate-mass black holes, and they may have found one with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The suspected black hole is estimated to be roughly 800 solar masses and located in a star cluster 6,000 light years away from Earth.
The research team cannot see the black hole, but they can calculate its mass by studying the motion of stars caught in its gravitational field. This discovery could help shed light on the formation of black holes and their role in the evolution of galaxies.
Other possible intermediate-mass black holes have been spotted in the past, including 3XMM J215022.4−055108 and HLX-1. But this new discovery is exciting because it is closer to Earth and easier to study.
How the Hubble Space Telescope Works
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and named after astronomer Edwin Hubble. Since then, it has made over 1.5 million observations and contributed to over 19,000 scientific papers. The telescope is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy for NASA and located in Baltimore, Maryland.
Why This Discovery Matters
Intermediate-mass black holes are a missing link in our understanding of black holes. They are too massive to be formed by the collapse of a single star, but too small to be formed by the merging of multiple black holes. This discovery could help us understand how black holes form and evolve, and their role in shaping the universe.
What’s Next?
The research team will continue to study the suspected black hole and try to confirm its existence. They will also look for other intermediate-mass black holes in the same star cluster and try to understand how they formed.
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