Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope and microlensing to detect a black hole that is 5,000 light years away. They have been able to determine an approximate mass of the object with more precise measurement. There is a chance that this object is not a black hole.
There is a wandering object in the spiral arm of our galaxy. The two large international teams used Hubble data to find out more about the object. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore led one of the teams that found the black hole. The leader of the second team was from Berkeley. Both teams suggest that there is a relatively small object.
Sahu's team was able to estimate the object's weight because of the amount of force it takes to warp space. The object may be a black hole or a neutron star according to the team. The mass of the invisible compact object is between 1.6 and 4.4 times that of the sun. The object at the high end of the range would be a black hole, while the object at the low end would be a neutron star.
Jessica Lu of the Berkeley team said that they must report all allowed solutions if they want to say that it is a black hole. Lower mass black holes and possibly even a neutron star are included. It is possible that the object is the first dark stellar remnant discovered in the universe.
The data is leaning towards the object being a black hole due to other clues.
The story of this object began in the year 2011. The black hole in front of the star was the cause of the problem. The star faded over the course of several months as the black hole moved by. Black holes do not emit or reflect light. Microlensing events can be used to measure its unique thumbprint.
Astronomers on Sahu's team have been looking at this object for over six years. The signature of a black hole is unique among other microlensing events and is something that has not been seen before.
The team said that the black hole's gravity will last for over 200 days. If the intervening object was a foreground star, the light from the foreground and background would blend together, causing a color change in the starlight. There was no change in color. Sahu's team claimed to have found a black hole in their paper.
The existence of black holes has been known for a long time. Until now, all black holes have been inferred through interactions in the core of the universe. This object is very unusual since stellar-mass black holes are usually found with companion stars.
This is possibly the first time that an isolated black hole has been found, and it has been estimated that 100 million black holes exist in our universe. The nearest isolated black hole to Earth might be as far away as 80 light-years. The nearest star to our solar system is over 4 light years away.
Sahu said that the detection of isolated black holes will provide new insights into the population of objects in the sky. He thinks that the observations will allow them to find more black holes in our universe.
This would be a needle-in-a-haystack search with the use of microlensing. Only a small number of microlensing events are caused by black holes.
Sahu said thatmetric microlensing is very difficult. Microlensing is the only way to identify black holes.
Two teams with lots of astronomy will continue to study and monitor this object, hoping for more data and more microlensing events.
The Hubble Telescope is the source of the picture.
The science paper was written by Sahu and her colleagues.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
