Best Evidence Yet for Midsized Black Holes Found by Hubble

At about 50,000 times the mass of the sun, this intermediate-mass black hole skirts the line between shrimp and giant.

By Korey Haynes
Apr 2, 2020 9:30 PMApr 2, 2020 9:33 PM
HubbleIMBH
Intermediate-mass black holes, like the one depicted tearing apart a star in this artist’s concept, have long been theorized to exist. But finding conclusive proof has proven extremely difficult. But new research, based on the X-ray signals seen from a suspected midsized black hole shredding a star, provide the best evidence yet. (Credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser)

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While “seeing” black holes technically isn’t possible, astronomers are fairly certain they exist both in small and super-sized varieties. Medium versions, however, called intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), have remained surprisingly elusive. Because astronomers think they’re missing an important link between the smallest and largest black holes, confirming that IMBHs exist would have powerful implications for the evolution of these light-gobbling beasts.  

Now, astronomers, including Dacheng Lin from the University of New Hampshire, are circling back to a possible IMBH they reported on in 2018. Armed with new observations, the researchers think their candidate IMBH looks more like a mid-sized black hole than anything found before, weighing in at some 50,000 times the mass of the sun. If confirmed, the IMBH candidate might serve as evidence that supermassive black holes slowly build up over time through multiple mergers of smaller black holes. 

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