An Isolated Supermassive black hole appears to have survived a galactic collision Astronomers have reconstructed what they think is a galactic crash scene, with a rare breed of black hole left behind amid a dwarf galaxy’s wreckage. The Hubble Space Telescope played a key role in the accident investigation. The black hole was detected three years ago in the edge-on spiral galaxy ESO 243-49, about 290 million light-years from Earth, and raised a question that’s been bugging astronomers ever since. The theoretical scenario for creating black holes through the collapse of stars is well-known. But scientists are just beginning to figure out how galaxy formation can lead to the creation ofsupermassive black holes that are millions or billions of times heavier than the sun. This particular black hole, designated HLX-1, was even more of a puzzler: It’s about 20,000 times as massive as our sun, a kind of midsize monster that’s rarely seen in our celestial neighborhood. (Article Via)
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An Isolated Supermassive black hole appears to have survived a galactic collision

Astronomers have reconstructed what they think is a galactic crash scene, with a rare breed of black hole left behind amid a dwarf galaxy’s wreckage. The Hubble Space Telescope played a key role in the accident investigation.

The black hole was detected three years ago in the edge-on spiral galaxy ESO 243-49, about 290 million light-years from Earth, and raised a question that’s been bugging astronomers ever since.

The theoretical scenario for creating black holes through the collapse of stars is well-known. But scientists are just beginning to figure out how galaxy formation can lead to the creation ofsupermassive black holes that are millions or billions of times heavier than the sun. This particular black hole, designated HLX-1, was even more of a puzzler: It’s about 20,000 times as massive as our sun, a kind of midsize monster that’s rarely seen in our celestial neighborhood.

(Article Via)

Source: MSN

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