Ryan Morrison For Mailonline 3/30/2021
© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline
A 'Goldilocks' black hole that is about 55,000 times the mass of the sun has been discovered by astronomers, who say it is 'not too big, and not too small'.
The stellar phenomenon, discovered by University of Melbourne astronomers, was found about three billion light years way thanks to a technique involving the detection of the light from a gamma-ray burst bending on its way to the Earth.
Astronomers say the size of the 'intermediate black hole' is between a small 'supernova' black hole and a supermassive black hole at the heart of a galaxy.
It could be an 'ancient relic' dating to the early universe before the first stars and galaxies formed, suggests co-author Professor Eric Thrane from Monash University.
These 'intermediate black holes' may have been the seeds that over time led to the supermassive black holes that live at the heart of every known galaxy today.
While this one is three billion light years away, researchers estimate that there are some 46,000 intermediate-mass black holes in the vicinity of the Milky Way galaxy.
© Provided by Daily Mail The new black hole was found through the detection of a gravitationally lensed gamma-ray burst
The discovery, through gravitational lensing, of this new long predicted type of black hole fills in a 'missing link' in our understanding of the universe, the team explained.
It has been dubbed the 'Goldilocks' black hole as it sits right in the middle of all known black hole types, not too big and not too small.
A typical black hole, created from the explosion of a massive star at the end of its life, will be up to 10 times the mass of the sun.
In contrast, a supermassive black hole that sites at the centre of a galaxy, including the recently photographed one in M87, can be billions of times the mass of the sun.
The new type of 'Goldilocks' black hole is about 55,000 times the mass of our own star, filling in a gap that has left astronomers baffled for years.
Lead author and University of Melbourne PhD student, James Paynter, said the latest discovery sheds new light on how supermassive black holes form.
"While we know that these supermassive black holes lurk in the cores of most, if not all galaxies, we don't understand how these behemoths are able to grow so large within the age of the Universe," he said.
The discovery, through gravitational lensing, of this new long predicted type of black hole fills in a 'missing link' in our understanding of the universe, the team explained.
It has been dubbed the 'Goldilocks' black hole as it sits right in the middle of all known black hole types, not too big and not too small.
A typical black hole, created from the explosion of a massive star at the end of its life, will be up to 10 times the mass of the sun.
In contrast, a supermassive black hole that sites at the centre of a galaxy, including the recently photographed one in M87, can be billions of times the mass of the sun.
The new type of 'Goldilocks' black hole is about 55,000 times the mass of our own star, filling in a gap that has left astronomers baffled for years.
Lead author and University of Melbourne PhD student, James Paynter, said the latest discovery sheds new light on how supermassive black holes form.
"While we know that these supermassive black holes lurk in the cores of most, if not all galaxies, we don't understand how these behemoths are able to grow so large within the age of the Universe," he said.
© Provided by Daily Mail Astronomers say the size of the 'intermediate black hole' is between a small 'supernova' black hole and a supermassive black hole at the heart of a galaxy
The new black hole was found through the detection of a gravitationally lensed gamma-ray burst, a half-second flash of high-energy light.
This light was emitted by a pair of merging stars, and was observed to have a tell-tale 'echo', caused by the intervening intermediate-mass black hole.
The black hole bends the path of the light from the gamma-ray burst on its way to Earth, so that astronomers see the same flash twice.
Powerful software developed to detect black holes from gravitational waves was adapted to establish that the two flashes are images of the same object.
The new black hole was found through the detection of a gravitationally lensed gamma-ray burst, a half-second flash of high-energy light.
This light was emitted by a pair of merging stars, and was observed to have a tell-tale 'echo', caused by the intervening intermediate-mass black hole.
The black hole bends the path of the light from the gamma-ray burst on its way to Earth, so that astronomers see the same flash twice.
Powerful software developed to detect black holes from gravitational waves was adapted to establish that the two flashes are images of the same object.
© Provided by Daily Mail The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of a black hole released in 2019, has today a new view of the massive object at the centre of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy: how it looks in polarised light
INTERMEDIATE MASS BLACK HOLES: THE MISSING LINK IN UNIVERSE EVOLUTION
Intermediate mass black holes are the 'missing link' in universe evolution.
They sit between those created from an exploding star and supermassive black holes at the heart of a galaxy.
One recently detected using gravitational lensing was 55,000 times more massive than the sun.
They are thought to have been the 'seeds' that led to the creation of supermassive black holes.
Researchers estimate that there are some 46,000 intermediate-mass black holes in the vicinity of the Milky Way.
They are thought to sit at the heart of globular clusters, collections of stars within a galaxy bound by gravity.
"This newly discovered black hole could be an ancient relic - a primordial black hole - created in the early Universe before the first stars and galaxies formed," said Thrane.
"These early black holes may be the seeds of the supermassive black holes that live in the hearts of galaxies today."
Paper co-author, gravitational lensing pioneer, Professor Rachel Webster from the University of Melbourne, said the findings have the potential to help scientists make even greater strides in the understanding of the evolution of the universe.
"Using this new black hole candidate, we can estimate the total number of these objects in the universe,' Webster explained.
'We predicted that this might be possible 30 years ago, and it is exciting to have discovered a strong example.'
The researchers estimate that some 46,000 intermediate mass black holes are in the vicinity of our Milky Way galaxy.
These groupings of intermediate-mass black holes have long been thought to sit within the cores of globular clusters.
A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that are tightly bound by gravity, found in disc and spiral galaxies.
There are 150 known to exist in the Milky Way with many more likely still to be found.
Galaxy M87, up to 1,000 times older than the Milky Way, is thought to have as many as 13,000 globular clusters.
the details of the discovery have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
INTERMEDIATE MASS BLACK HOLES: THE MISSING LINK IN UNIVERSE EVOLUTION
Intermediate mass black holes are the 'missing link' in universe evolution.
They sit between those created from an exploding star and supermassive black holes at the heart of a galaxy.
One recently detected using gravitational lensing was 55,000 times more massive than the sun.
They are thought to have been the 'seeds' that led to the creation of supermassive black holes.
Researchers estimate that there are some 46,000 intermediate-mass black holes in the vicinity of the Milky Way.
They are thought to sit at the heart of globular clusters, collections of stars within a galaxy bound by gravity.
"This newly discovered black hole could be an ancient relic - a primordial black hole - created in the early Universe before the first stars and galaxies formed," said Thrane.
"These early black holes may be the seeds of the supermassive black holes that live in the hearts of galaxies today."
Paper co-author, gravitational lensing pioneer, Professor Rachel Webster from the University of Melbourne, said the findings have the potential to help scientists make even greater strides in the understanding of the evolution of the universe.
"Using this new black hole candidate, we can estimate the total number of these objects in the universe,' Webster explained.
'We predicted that this might be possible 30 years ago, and it is exciting to have discovered a strong example.'
The researchers estimate that some 46,000 intermediate mass black holes are in the vicinity of our Milky Way galaxy.
These groupings of intermediate-mass black holes have long been thought to sit within the cores of globular clusters.
A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that are tightly bound by gravity, found in disc and spiral galaxies.
There are 150 known to exist in the Milky Way with many more likely still to be found.
Galaxy M87, up to 1,000 times older than the Milky Way, is thought to have as many as 13,000 globular clusters.
the details of the discovery have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
A 'starter kit' for supermassive black holes?
Scientists have reported the discovery of a rare, medium-sized black hole that may help answer one of the more tantalising questions in astronomy: how do their supermassive counterparts come into being?
Scientists have reported the discovery of a rare, medium-sized black hole that may help answer one of the more tantalising questions in astronomy: how do their supermassive counterparts come into being?
© Valentina BRESCHI Illustration showing the different parts of a black hole
There are two well-known sizes of black hole -- at one end, so-called stellar-class ones which are typically three to ten times the mass of our Sun -- and at the other, supermassive ones, found at the centre of most galaxies, including the Milky Way, which are millions to billions times heavier.
There are two well-known sizes of black hole -- at one end, so-called stellar-class ones which are typically three to ten times the mass of our Sun -- and at the other, supermassive ones, found at the centre of most galaxies, including the Milky Way, which are millions to billions times heavier.
© Handout Astronomers have yet to figure out the origin story of matter-eating monsters called supermassive black holes
The newly detected 'goldilocks' black hole -- about 55,000 solar masses -- could be a missing link between these two extremes, scientists suggested Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Up to now, only a handful of intermediate-mass black holes -- between 100 and 100,000 solar masses -- have been detected, and none have been squarely in the middle of that range.
A black hole is a celestial object that compresses a huge mass into an extremely small space. Their gravitational pull is so strong nothing can escape them, not even light.
Stellar-class black holes form when a dying star collapses, but astronomers have yet to figure out the origin story of the larger, matter-eating monsters.
"How do we get so many supermassive black holes in the Universe?" asked co-author Rachel Webster, a professor at the University of Melbourne.
Senior author Eric Thrane, a professor at Monash University, said the newly discovered black hole "could be an ancient relic, a primordial black hole created before the first stars and galaxies formed."
"These early black holes may be the seeds of the supermassive black holes that live in the hearts of galaxies today."
- Born that way? -
The new specimen was observed indirectly thanks to a slight deviation in light from a stellar explosion in the early Universe, some eight billion light years distant.
Using a technique pioneered by Webster, astronomers analysed thousands of these gamma-ray bursts -- caused either by the violent collapse of a star or the merger of two stars -- looking for signs of gravitational lensing.
This occurs when an object -— in this case, the intermediate black hole -- acts as a lens and fleetingly bends the path of the light as it travels toward Earth, such that astronomers see the same flash twice.
While Thrane, Webster and lead author James Paynter, a PhD candidate, were able to measure the mass of their intermediate black hole with precision, they could only speculate on how it was formed.
"Broadly, there are three possibilities," Webster told AFP.
It could have been forged from the merger between two lesser black holes, as was true for another, much smaller intermediate black hole discovered in May 2019.
Alternatively, it might have been born as a stellar-class black hole and slowly accumulated mass as it sucked matter into its maw.
"But this is a slow process," said Webster. "It is hard to grow supermassive black holes from a solar mass seed over the age of the Universe."
A more likely scenario is that their discovery "was born that way," she said. "This could provide the answer."
The authors think that there are about 40,000 intermediate black holes in our own galaxy alone.
The gravitational waves that can bend light -- allowing for the detection of black holes -- were first measured in September 2015, earning the lead scientists a physics Nobel two years later.
Albert Einstein anticipated gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity, which theorised that they spread through the Universe at the speed of light.
mh/reb
The newly detected 'goldilocks' black hole -- about 55,000 solar masses -- could be a missing link between these two extremes, scientists suggested Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Up to now, only a handful of intermediate-mass black holes -- between 100 and 100,000 solar masses -- have been detected, and none have been squarely in the middle of that range.
A black hole is a celestial object that compresses a huge mass into an extremely small space. Their gravitational pull is so strong nothing can escape them, not even light.
Stellar-class black holes form when a dying star collapses, but astronomers have yet to figure out the origin story of the larger, matter-eating monsters.
"How do we get so many supermassive black holes in the Universe?" asked co-author Rachel Webster, a professor at the University of Melbourne.
Senior author Eric Thrane, a professor at Monash University, said the newly discovered black hole "could be an ancient relic, a primordial black hole created before the first stars and galaxies formed."
"These early black holes may be the seeds of the supermassive black holes that live in the hearts of galaxies today."
- Born that way? -
The new specimen was observed indirectly thanks to a slight deviation in light from a stellar explosion in the early Universe, some eight billion light years distant.
Using a technique pioneered by Webster, astronomers analysed thousands of these gamma-ray bursts -- caused either by the violent collapse of a star or the merger of two stars -- looking for signs of gravitational lensing.
This occurs when an object -— in this case, the intermediate black hole -- acts as a lens and fleetingly bends the path of the light as it travels toward Earth, such that astronomers see the same flash twice.
While Thrane, Webster and lead author James Paynter, a PhD candidate, were able to measure the mass of their intermediate black hole with precision, they could only speculate on how it was formed.
"Broadly, there are three possibilities," Webster told AFP.
It could have been forged from the merger between two lesser black holes, as was true for another, much smaller intermediate black hole discovered in May 2019.
Alternatively, it might have been born as a stellar-class black hole and slowly accumulated mass as it sucked matter into its maw.
"But this is a slow process," said Webster. "It is hard to grow supermassive black holes from a solar mass seed over the age of the Universe."
A more likely scenario is that their discovery "was born that way," she said. "This could provide the answer."
The authors think that there are about 40,000 intermediate black holes in our own galaxy alone.
The gravitational waves that can bend light -- allowing for the detection of black holes -- were first measured in September 2015, earning the lead scientists a physics Nobel two years later.
Albert Einstein anticipated gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity, which theorised that they spread through the Universe at the speed of light.
mh/reb
