Rare Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Discovered Near Milky Way's Center by International Researchers

Rare Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Discovered Near Milky Way's Center by International Researchers
Images credit: Wikipedia 

A group of international researchers at the University of Cologne in Germany recently identified one of the rarest types of black holes in the universe. Observing a star cluster near the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A (Sgr A) at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, they discovered signs of an intermediate-mass black hole. This type of black hole is often referred to as the “missing link” of black holes, according to NASA.

Image credit: Space.com

Intermediate-mass black holes sit between primordial black holes and supermassive black holes in size. They are believed to have formed shortly after the Big Bang and act as “seeds” for the creation of supermassive black holes. The star cluster, known as IRS 13, displayed an orderly movement pattern, contrary to the expected random arrangement. Researchers concluded that this pattern indicated interaction with the supermassive black hole, suggesting the presence of something within the cluster to maintain its compact shape, as stated by the University of Cologne.

Future observations of the intermediate-mass black hole are planned using the James Webb Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile, which is currently under construction. The discovery of the first intermediate-mass black hole in 2020 using the Hubble Space Telescope revealed waves created by its formation. Until then, these black holes were considered a “missing link” between stellar-mass and supermassive black holes, offering more insights into the formation of black holes and the universe.