The center of the Milky Way may contain thousands of black holes

Many new black holes have been discovered in the core of the Milky Way galaxy by observing X-rays emitted from binary black holes.

Scientists at the University of Colombia, the US discovered 12 black holes in the center of the Milky Way, or, AFP reported yesterday. According to astronomer Chuck Hailey, a member of the research team, this finding is just like the surface of an iceberg, thousands of other black holes can exist around the core of the Milky Way.

The Milky Way's central black hole may contain thousands of smaller black holes.(Photo: New Scientist).

Black holes are almost impossible to observe directly because their gravity is so strong that light cannot escape. However, they emit X-rays when matter is sucked into the event horizon. Therefore, the team at the University of Colombia decided to monitor the binary black hole - formed when a black hole found a companion star and sucked matter from that star. This process produces an observable direct X-ray explosion.

Scientists found X-ray signs of 12 binary black holes within three light years from the Sagittarius central black hole A. Based on black hole research data, they estimated about 500 binary black holes in the core of the Milky Way galaxy, most of them are not observable.

"In theory, it is estimated that every 20 black holes in the universe will find a companion star to form a binary black hole. By multiplication, we have about 10,000 black holes in the center of the strip. Milky Way, " Hailey explained.

Previously, the team also found that about 60 other black holes are far from the Milky Way core zone. Our galaxy is about 100,000 light-years wide and can hold up to 100 million black holes. The largest black holes can be millions to billions of times more massive than the Sun."Milky Way is a medium-sized galaxy, so if such a large number of black holes exist, thousands of black holes must be concentrated in the galactic core , " Hailey said.

The findings are published in the journal Nature. This is the first evidence for the hypothesis that the central black hole of each galaxy is surrounded by thousands of smaller black holes.