Elusive Mid-sized Black Hole Caught Shredding Star
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Text, News From The Universe. April 6, 2020
Elusive Mid-sized Black Hole Caught Shredding Star
Image, bright material spirals around a black central core amidst a field of stars.
Text, Astronomers have confirmed a suspicious source of X-rays; a star that was torn apart by a mid-sized black hole.
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Mid-Sized black holes have long thwarted detection.
They could provide clues to how the larger super-massive black holes formed in the early universe.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the X-rays came from a distant star shredded by a black holes tidal forces.
Image, a bright galaxy. Text, X-ray source location.
Text, X-ray observations confirmed the black hole was intermediate-mass.
Now that they have found one, astronomers are on the hunt for other members of the mid-sized group.
This news was brought to you in part by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore MD.