An enormous black hole one hundred thousand times more massive than the sun has been found hiding in a toxic gas cloud wafting around near the heart of the Milky Way.
If the discovery is confirmed, the invisible behemoth will rank as the second largest black hole ever seen in the Milky Way after the supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* that is anchored at the very centre of the galaxy.
“This is the first detection of an intermediate-mass black hole candidate in the Milky Way galaxy,” he said.
But astronomers also know that much larger, supermassive black holes lie at the heart of large galaxies including the Milky Way, where Sagittarius A* weighs as much as 400m suns.
Edge of darkness: looking into the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way Read more.
“We think some of those black holes are the seeds from which the much larger supermassive black holes grow to at least a million times more massive.
In time, Oka said, the object will be drawn towards Sagittarius A* and sink into it, making the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way even more massive. »