Astronomers discovered a small black hole outside the Milky Way, for the first time using a ground telescope – VLT (Very Large TeleScope) in Chile. This method may contribute to the detection of hidden black holes in the Milky path and nearby galaxies, as well as shed light on how these mysterious objects occur and evolve. This is reported in a press release on Eurekalert!.
The black hole is located in the NGC 1850, scattered cluster from thousands of stars at a distance of approximately 160 thousand light years from the ground, in a large magtel cloud, adjacent to the Milky, by Galaxy. The mass of the exotic object is 11 times higher than the mass. The black hole was discovered due to the gravitational effect, which it exerts on the nearest star weighing five suns.
Astronomers have previously found such small black holes “star mass” in other galaxies, catching X-ray glow, emitted when absorbing a substance, or gravitational waves arising from a collision of black holes with each other or with neutron stars. For the first time, a similar object was found with the help of terrestrial observations aimed at finding signs of gravitational perturbation, rendered by black hole to the next star.
Using a dynamic method in similar star clusters will help to open even more young black holes and find out the mechanism of their evolution.