Another intermediate-mass black hole discovery at the center of our galaxy

An international research team led by Dr. Florian Peisker has discovered signs of another intermediate-mass black hole while investigating a star cluster in the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black hole SgrA* (Sagittarius A*) at the centre of our galaxy.

Despite extensive research efforts, these intermediate mass Black Hole Only about 100 asteroids have been discovered in the entire universe so far. Scientists believe they formed shortly after the Big Bang. By merging, asteroids act as “seeds.” Supermassive black holeThe study, “An evaporating giant embedded stellar cluster IRS 13. II. Kinematic structure close to Sgr A*,” Published in Astrophysical Journal.

The analyzed star cluster IRS 13 is 0.1 Light years It’s 100 kilometers from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. While that’s very close in astronomical terms, you’d still need to travel from one end of the solar system to the other 20 times to cover that distance. The researchers noticed that the stars in IRS 13 were moving in an unexpectedly orderly pattern; they’d expected the stars to be arranged randomly.

This regular pattern allows two conclusions to be drawn: on the one hand, IRS 13 seems to interact with SgrA*, leading to an orderly motion of the stars, and on the other hand, something else must be present within the cluster to maintain the observed compact shape.

Multi-wavelength observations with the Very Large Telescope, ALMA and Chandra have suggested that the compact shape of IRS 13 may be due to an intermediate-mass black hole located at the center of the cluster. This theory is supported by the fact that researchers were able to observe characteristic X-rays and ionized gas rotating in a ring around the estimated location of the intermediate-mass black hole at speeds of several hundred km/s.

Another indication of the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole is the cluster’s unusually high density, which is higher than that of any other known star cluster in the Milky Way.

“IRS 13 appears to be an essential component in the growth of the central black hole SgrA*,” said Peisker, lead author of the study.

“This fascinating star cluster has continued to amaze the scientific community since its discovery almost 20 years ago. It was initially thought to be an unusually massive group of stars, but our high-resolution data now allow us to see its component parts, with an intermediate-mass black hole at its centre.”

Planned observations by the James Webb Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope, currently under construction, will provide further insight into processes within the cluster.