Detecting a young black hole right next to the galaxy containing the Earth

A newly discovered black hole lurks in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

The newly discovered black hole is 160,000 light-years from Earth and has a mass 11 times that of the Sun. Astronomers found this black hole through the very large telescope VLT of the European southern observatory in Chile.

A cosmic black hole and a star orbiting the black hole. (Photo: ESO/M. Kornmesser).

Astronomers have observed how the gravity of a black hole affects the motion of a nearby star. This star has 5 times the mass of the Sun.

This is the first time this way of detecting black holes has been used, and the method could help researchers detect other hidden black holes in the Milky Way as well as other galaxies in the universe.

The discovery of a new black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

NGC1850, a binary and supergiant cluster in the constellation Dorado, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, where the newly discovered black hole was. (Photo: ESO/M. Kornmesser)

"Just as Sherlock Holmes watches a gang of criminals from their missteps, it's like we're examining each star in this cluster with a magnifying glass in an attempt to find some evidence of presence. surface of the black hole, but cannot see them directly," said lead researcher Sara Saracino.

Sara Saracino is a member of the faculty of engineering and technology from Liverpool John Moores University's Institute of Astrophysics, UK.

'The results here represent only one of the most wanted criminals, but once you find one you are on a journey to discover many others, in different clusters,' the researcher shared. shall.

Although cosmic black holes are difficult to detect, they tend to reveal their presence through X-rays emitted when they swallow surrounding matter, creating gravitational waves when they collide with each other or collide with other objects. neutron stars.

The discovery of a black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud is the first time astronomers have found a young black hole in a young star cluster, about 100 million years old, which is in its infancy when compared with the rest of the universe. pillar.

In the future, astronomers can use this method to find other young black holes in the universe to understand their evolution and compare them with larger black holes in older star clusters. to see how black holes grow over time.