{"id":24680,"date":"2021-11-11T07:00:49","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T12:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=24680"},"modified":"2021-11-09T13:50:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T18:50:18","slug":"eso-black-hole-discovered-in-star-cluster-outside-the-milky-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=24680","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Black hole discovered in star cluster outside the Milky Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from ESO<\/a> (European Southern Observatory):<\/p>\n

Black hole found hiding in star cluster outside our galaxy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This artist\u2019s impression shows a compact black hole 11 times as massive as the Sun and the five-solar-mass star orbiting it. The two objects are located in NGC 1850, a cluster of thousands of stars roughly 160 000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a Milky Way neighbour. The distortion of the star\u2019s shape is due to the strong gravitational force exerted by the black hole.\u00a0 Not only does the black hole\u2019s gravitational force distort the shape of the star, but it also influences its orbit. By looking at these subtle orbital effects, a team of astronomers were able to infer the presence of the black hole, making it the first small black hole outside of our galaxy to be found this way. For this discovery, the team used the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument at ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope in Chile.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope (ESO\u2019s VLT), astronomers have discovered a small black hole outside the Milky Way by looking at how it influences the motion of a star in its close vicinity. This is the first time this detection method has been used to reveal the presence of a black hole outside of our galaxy. The method could be key to unveiling hidden black holes in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, and to help shed light on how these mysterious objects form and evolve.<\/p>\n