Astronomers Discover Supermassive , 'Monster' Black Hole , in Dim Dwarf Galaxy.
'The Independent' reports that scientists have
discovered a "mini" black hole hiding in a relatively
small galaxy about 110 million light years away. .
The "mini" black hole has a reported
mass estimated to be about
200,000 times that of the sun. .
It is located in a small galaxy called Mrk 462,
which contains just several hundred million stars. .
In comparison, our own Milky Way galaxy
contains approximately one hundred billion stars. .
This black hole in Mrk 462 is among
the smallest of the supermassive,
or monster, black holes.
Black holes like this are
notoriously hard to find, Jack Parker, co-author of the study,
Dartmouth College, via 'The Independent'.
Dwarf galaxies are too small and dim
for astronomers to track the motion of
the stars they contain and locate black holes. .
Instead, astronomers search for other signs
of black holes, like superheated gas
and brightly-glowing x-rays. .
Because buried black holes are even
harder to detect than exposed ones,
finding this example might mean there
are a lot more dwarf galaxies out
there with similar black holes, Ryan Hickox, astronomer and co-author
of the study, via 'The Independent'.
This is important because it could
help address a major question
in astrophysics: How did black holes
get so big so early in the universe?, Ryan Hickox, astronomer and co-author
of the study, via 'The Independent'.
We can’t make strong conclusions from one
example, but this result should encourage
much more extensive searches for
buried black holes in dwarf galaxies.
We’re excited about what we might learn, Jack Parker, co-author of the study,
Dartmouth College, via 'The Independent'