Scientists find an exotic black hole deemed a 'needle in a haystack'

July 18, 2022
1:38 PM CDT
Last Updated 5 hours ago

By Will Dunham

4 minute read

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) - Astronomers have spotted in a galaxy adjacent to our Milky Way what they are calling a cosmic "needle in a haystack" - a black hole that not only is classified as dormant but appears to have been born without the explosion of a dying star.

Researchers said on Monday this one differs from all other known black holes in that it is "X-ray quiet" - not emitting powerful X-ray radiation indicative of gobbling up nearby material with its strong gravitational pull - and that it was not born in a stellar blast called a supernova.

Black holes are extraordinarily dense objects with gravity so intense not even light can escape.

This one, with a mass at least nine times greater than our sun, was detected in the Tarantula Nebula region of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy and is located about 160,000 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

More:
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/scientists-find-an-exotic-black-hole-deemed-needle-haystack-2022-07-18/