Astrophysicists from Japan's Keio University have discovered a hidden black hole while observing molecular clouds around supernova remnants W44, according to The Astrophysical Journal.
The discovery was made by a team led by Masaya Yamada using the ASTE telescope in Chile and the Nobeyama Observatory radio telescope. The goal was to study molecular clouds around the star's remnants. It is located 10,000 light years from our planet. During the analysis of the cloud, dubbed the Bullet (Bullet), scientists have found signs of a hidden black hole.
The cloud is reported to be two light years across. Its speed exceeds 100 km / s, that is, it is much higher than the speed of sound. Bullet moves against the rotation of the Milky Way and possesses enormous kinetic energy. According to scientists, the cloud is under the influence of a hidden black hole, the parameters of which have not yet been established.
The authors of the discovery proposed two hypotheses. According to one of them, a black hole, the mass of which is 3.5 times the mass of the Sun, attracted a cloud after a supernova explosion. The second version suggests that the black hole itself moves through a cloud of dense gas at high speed. In this case, its mass can reach 36 solar masses.
Further research will help determine which hypothesis is correct. Note that about 60 black holes have been identified in the Milky Way. However, theoretical studies show that their total number in our galaxy can vary from 100 million to one billion.
Denis Peredelsky