Editor’s note: Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. (CNN) — Astronomers have spotted the most massive known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy after detecting an unusual wobble in space.
Astronomers have found the most massive stellar black hole to date in the Milky Way galaxy, and it was all due to the wobble of the object’s companion star.Scientists found the most massive stellar black hole in our galaxy due to the wobbly motions of its companion star. An artist's illustration shows the orbits of the star and black hole, dubbed Gaia BH3. Astronomers have spotted the most massive known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy after detecting an unusual wobble in space.
Many “dormant” black holes don’t have a companion close enough to munch on, so they are much more difficult to spot and don’t generate any light. But other stellar black holes siphon material from companion stars, and this exchange of matter releases bright X-rays that can be spotted through telescopes.
“No one was expecting to find a high-mass black hole lurking nearby, undetected so far,” said lead study author Pasquale Panuzzo, an astronomer at the Observatoire de Paris, part of France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, and a Gaia collaboration member, in a statement. “This is the kind of discovery you make once in your research life.
Scientists believe stellar black holes with masses such as Gaia BH3’s formed when metal-poor stars collapsed. These stars, which include hydrogen and helium as their heaviest elements, are thought to lose less mass over their lifetimes, so they have more material at the end that can result in a high-mass black hole.
“What strikes me is that the chemical composition of the companion is similar to what we find in old metal-poor stars in the galaxy,” said study coauthor Elisabetta Caffau, a Gaia collaboration member at the Observatoire de Paris, in a statement.
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