ESA Hubble Science Release | 2020 Mar 31
New data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have provided the strongest evidence yet for mid-sized black holes in the Universe. Hubble confirms that this “intermediate-mass” black hole dwells inside a dense star cluster.
- This Hubble Space Telescope image identified the location of an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH), weighing over 50 000 times the mass of our Sun (making it much smaller than the supermassive black holes found in the centres of galaxies). The black hole, named 3XMM J215022.4−055108, is indicated by the white circle. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Lin (University of New Hampshire)
Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are a long-sought “missing link” in black hole evolution. There have been a few other IMBH candidates found to date. They are smaller than the supermassive black holes that lie at the cores of large galaxies, but larger than stellar-mass black holes formed by the collapse of massive stars. This new black hole is over 50 000 times the mass of our Sun. ...
IMBHs are hard to find. “Intermediate-mass black holes are very elusive objects, and so it is critical to carefully consider and rule out alternative explanations for each candidate. That is what Hubble has allowed us to do for our candidate,” said Dacheng Lin ...
Lin and his team used Hubble to follow up on leads from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton), which carries three high-throughput X-ray telescopes and an optical monitor to make long uninterrupted exposures providing highly sensitive observations. ...
In 2006 these high-energy satellites detected a powerful flare of X-rays, but it was not clear if they originated from inside or outside of our galaxy. Researchers attributed it to a star being torn apart after coming too close to a gravitationally powerful compact object, like a black hole. ...
Hubble Finds Best Evidence for Elusive Mid-Size Black Hole
NASA | GSFC | STScI | HubbleSite | 2020 Mar 31
Multiwavelength Follow-up of the Hyperluminous Intermediate-Mass
Black Hole Candidate 3XMM J215022.4-055108 ~ Dacheng Lin et al
- Astrophysical Journal Letters 892(2):L25 (2020 Apr 01) DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab745b
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:2002.0461 > 11 Feb 2020
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