Researchers have confirmed the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole in the core of Omega Centauri, a cluster that once formed the heart of a separate galaxy. This finding enhances our understanding of black hole evolution and galaxy dynamics. (Artist’s concept.) Credit: SciTechDaily.com.
Researchers confirmed an intermediate-mass black hole in Omega Centauri’s center, supporting theories of its origin as a distinct galaxy core merged with the Milky Way.
Newly identified fast-moving stars in the star cluster Omega Centauri provide solid evidence for a central black hole in the cluster. With at least 8,200 solar masses, it is the best candidate for a class of black holes astronomers have long believed to exist: intermediate-mass black holes, formed in the early stages of galaxy evolution. The discovery bolsters the case for Omega Centauri as the core region of a galaxy that was swallowed by the Milky Way billions of years ago. Stripped of its outer stars, that galaxy nucleus has remained “frozen in time” since then. The study has been published in the journal Nature.
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