Astronomers Discover Closest Massive Black Hole in Omega Centauri, 8,200 Times the Sun's Mass

Jul 10, 2024, 04:42 PM

Astronomers have discovered the closest massive black hole to Earth, located in the Omega Centauri star cluster within the Milky Way. This black hole, identified as an intermediate-mass black hole, is estimated to be 8,200 times the mass of the Sun. The discovery was made using over 500 Hubble Space Telescope images taken over two decades. The presence of seven fast-moving stars in the cluster's core, influenced by the black hole, provided compelling evidence for its existence. This finding, published in Nature, is considered a 'missing link' in the formation of massive black holes, bridging the gap between smaller black holes formed from collapsed stars and supermassive black holes at galaxy cores.