1 hour ago
It is highly likely that this mysterious object may be one of a stellar black hole or a small, hard-to-detect black hole. because it exists and orbits alone in the darkness Previously, astronomers expected Such types of black holes may exist in more than 100 million in our galaxy.
image source, NASA
There are masses and high-density space objects that we cannot see. is moving aimlessly in our galaxy.
In two research papers published in The Astrophysical Journal, teams of astronomers from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and the University of California. The UC Berkeley campus has released analyzes from years of tracking the mysterious object with the Hubble Space Telescope. after the first clue was found in 2011.
Mysterious objects that could be these wandering black holes Caused by a powerful supernova explosion of stars. The core of the star collapses and the explosion pushes it away in different directions. It is now 5,000 light-years from Earth, in a region of the arm of a galaxy known as Carina-Sagittarius. (Carina-Sagittarius), but there may be a similar mysterious object yet to be discovered. can live only 80 light-years from Earth
Both researchers took advantage of a phenomenon known as “Gravitational Lens” to detect and calculate the mass of such space objects. This principle states that the light will be warped. When traveling close to a massive object with a super gravitational pull, such as a black hole or galaxies. causing the observer to distort the image of the light source. The image may be reduced or enlarged. or can be seen as multiple images arranged in arcs or rings as well
The gravitational lens produced by such a mysterious object. This makes the image of the star that is approaching it appear to have shifted from its original position and remain unusually bright. A team of researchers at the STScI Institute calculated its mass at 7 solar masses. suggesting that this object could be a stellar black hole.
image source, NASA / ESA/ HUBBLE
Hubble detects the warping of light passing through a gravitational lens.
However, the UC Berkeley research team calculated the mass of the mystery object to be between 1.6 and 4.4 solar masses. which is considered too low to be the mass of a black hole. and pointed out that it was more likely a neutron star.
As for the movement speed of this wandering black hole or neutron star, the STScI team found that it is 160,000 km/h, which is considerably faster than the motion of nearby stars. Another research team stated that Its speed is 108,000 km/h.