Hundreds of crazy black holes stir up the Milky Way

Black holes stir up our galaxy, threatening to swallow anything approaching them. In fact, new calculations done by Ryan O'Leary and Avi Loeb (belonging to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) show hundreds of giant black holes - remnants after a time series of galaxies. when the universe was only in its early stages - wandering through the Milky Way.

However there is good news that our Earth is still safe. The nearest violent black hole is located thousands of light years away. Astronomers are anxious to find the location of these black holes because they will provide clues to the process of forming the Milky Way galaxy.

Loeb said: 'These black holes are relics of the Milky Way galaxy's past. You can say that we are archaeologists studying these sites to learn about the history of galaxies as well as the history of black hole formation when the universe was only in its infancy. '

According to this hypothesis, violent black holes initially lurk in the center of low-mass galaxies. Over billions of years, these dwarf galaxies collided with each other to form the largest galaxies like the Milky Way.

Each time two primitive galaxies containing central black holes collided, their black holes combined to become a single black hole. During the merger process, the gravitational radiation emitted directly causes the black hole to move backwards. A push can cause a black hole to accelerate outward fast enough to escape its dwarf galaxy, but that is not enough to completely escape the vicinity of the galaxy completely. As a result, such black holes still linger around in the vicinity of the Milky Way's halo.

Hundreds of brutal black holes probably exist on the periphery of the Milky Way , each with a mass equal to 1,000 or 100,000 suns. It is difficult to locate black holes because we can only observe them when they are swallowing matter.

There is a sign that we can locate the black hole as the surrounding star cluster will be pulled out of the dwarf galaxy when the black hole escapes. Only stars that are closest to the black hole will be pulled, so that cluster will become very dense.

O'Leary explains: 'The surrounding star cluster is like a lighthouse warning of dangerous reefs ahead. If there are no bright stars leading the way, we will not be able to find the black hole. '

The number of violent black holes in our galaxy depends on the number of primordial galaxies that contain the black hole in the center, and how the original galaxies join together. to form the Milky Way galaxy. Finding and studying them will bring new information about the history of our galaxy's formation and development. Positioning the signposts as star clusters may be a relatively feasible way.

Loeb said: 'Until now, astronomers have not thought of searching for such dense star clusters in the Milky Way's halo. But now that we know what to expect, we can check out the existing sky surveys to search for this new set of objects. '

The article by Loeb and O'Leary is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Based in Cambridge, Mass., The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a combination of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard School Observatory. CfA scientists are organized into 6 research departments to learn about the origin, development and fate of the universe.

The image shows a ferocious black hole floating near a globular star cluster on the periphery of the Milky Way galaxy.New calculations done by Ryan O'Leary and Avi Loeb show that hundreds of giant black holes - remnants after a period of galaxy formation when the universe is only in the early stages - are roaming the Milky galaxy Way.Luckily, the nearest black hole lies thousands of light years away.(Photo: David A. Aguilar (CfA))