In a major astronomical development, images from the Hubble Space Telescope helped astrophysicists discover a rogue black hole, reports Russian state-run news agency Sputnik.
So far, it is the first unambiguous discovery of such a space object in the Milky Way.
This is the kind of supermassive hole that wanders in space far from the center of their galaxy, according to a study published in the Astrophysical Journal on January 31.
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our solar system.
Researchers believe that a possible microlensing event that they observed in 2011 was caused by a free-floating black hole, wandering in interstellar space. At the time, astrophysicists noticed a star that appeared to be getting brighter for no apparent reason. Scientists began to analyze the Hubble data. For six years, they observed a change in light, hoping that it was due to the growth of the black hole.
However, they noticed later that the star's light had changed. Scientists suggested that this was triggered by an invisible moving object applying force that attracted light passing by - an interstellar black hole. Astronomers continued to study the star and, as a result, one option remained - a wandering black hole is influencing the star's light.
Overall, the evidence is strong enough to support the existence of a free-floating black hole. Scientists have even measured the hole, which weighs the equivalent of approximately seven Suns. They also determined that the object is moving at about 45 kilometers per hour.
The black hole is a rogue wanderer in the void some 5,000 light-years from Earth, says the Scientific American magazine.
The result, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, represents the culmination of more than a decade of ardent searching.
“It’s super exciting,” says Marina Rejkuba from the European Southern Observatory in Germany, a co-author on the paper. “We can actually prove that isolated black holes are there.”
This discovery may be just the start; ongoing surveys and upcoming missions are expected to find dozens or even hundreds more of the dark, lonely travelers.
“It’s the tip of the iceberg,” says Kareem El-Badry from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who was not involved in the paper.
