Space Astronomers Spy Swarms of The Massive Black Hole At the Centre of Milky Way
For the first time astronomers have glimpsed a long-predicted population of black holes lurking at the heart of the Milky Way. Scientists already knew our galaxy’s core holds a supermassive black hole weighing millions of times more than our sun, and that this great beast is enveloped by a diverse entourage of lesser companions. Trapped in its gravitational clutches, run-of-the-mill stars whip around this gargantuan black hole like fireflies in a hurricane. So, too, do astrophysical exotica such as neutron stars and white dwarfs—the remnants left by normal stars when they die. Presumably black holes should be there as well, either born on the galactic center’s doorstep from the deaths of massive stars or arriving via migration from farther out. Such black holes should each weigh 10 to 20 times more than our sun. That bulk would make them behave a bit like heavy pebbles outpacing fine silt to the watery bottom of a well, jostling through the lighter surrounding stars to reach stab...
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