'Runaway' black hole the size of 20 million suns found speeding through space with a trail of newbor [View all]
'Runaway' black hole the size of 20 million suns found speeding through space with a trail of newborn stars behind it
By Robert Lea published about 20 hours ago
Astronomers have discovered a "runaway" black hole, potentially the first observational evidence that supermassive black holes can be ejected from their host galaxies.
An illustration showing a black hole being ejected from a galaxy's center, as a trail of brightly glowing gas follows behind (Image credit: Keio University)
Astronomers have spotted a runaway supermassive black hole, seemingly ejected from its home galaxy and racing through space with a chain of stars trailing in its wake.
According to the team's research, which was published on the pre-print server arXiv.org(opens in new tab) and has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the discovery offers the first observational evidence that supermassive black holes can be ejected from their home galaxies to roam interstellar space.
The researchers discovered the runaway black hole as a bright streak of light while they were using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the dwarf galaxy RCP 28, located about 7.5 billion light-years from Earth.
According to the team's research, which was published on the pre-print server arXiv.org(opens in new tab) and has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the discovery offers the first observational evidence that supermassive black holes can be ejected from their home galaxies to roam interstellar space.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/runaway-black-hole-the-size-of-20-million-suns-found-speeding-through-space-with-a-trail-of-newborn-stars-behind-it
