Share
An international team of scientists has announced the discovery of evidence of middle-sized black holes.
Image: Christopher/Flickr.
Black holes had previously been divided up into 'super-massive' -- several million to several billion times the mass of the Sun, to 'small' -- around three to 20 times the mass of our solar system's star. Black holes form when a star collapses in on itself, creating such a powerful gravitational field that nothing escapes, not even light.
A team of astronomers, led by astrophysicists at the Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements in France, have uncovered evidence of an intermediate black hole at the edge of galaxy ESO 243-49, with a maximum X-ray brightness of approximately 260 million times that of the Sun. The team found evidence of the black hole using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray space telescope.
Speculation by the team is that super-massive black holes may be formed by the merging of a number of smaller, mid-sized black holes.
"While it is widely accepted that stellar mass black holes are created during the death throes of massive stars, it is still unknown how super-massive black holes are formed," said lead author Dr. Sean Farrell, now based at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester in England.
"One theory is that super-massive black holes may be formed by the merger of a number of intermediate mass black holes," he added. "To ratify such a theory, however, you must first prove the existence of intermediate black holes"
"This is the best detection to date of such long sought after intermediate mass black holes. Such a detection is essential. While it is already known that stellar mass black holes are the remnants of massive stars, the formation mechanisms of supermassive black holes are still unknown," he continued.
Dr. Farrell also said the discovery was an "important step" in the understanding of how mysterious black holes are formed.
"The identification of HLX-1 is therefore an important step towards a better understanding of the formation of the super-massive black holes that exist at the centre of the Milky Way and other galaxies."
Want regular updates from The Tech Herald? Follow us on Twitter.
Interested in a more interactive TTH? Join our Facebook Group.
Interested in a more interactive TTH? Join our Facebook Group Want regular updates from The Tech Herald? Follow us on Twitter
Advertising
Comment on this Story