Black Hole Discovery

Scientists have spotted something hiding in a cloud of gas at the heart of the Milky Way. The Milky Way is the galaxy (collection of stars) that contains our solar system. Researchers think the distant cloud surrounds a new type of black hole.

Black holes are massive regions in space where the force of gravity is so strong even light cannot escape its pull. Scientists had previously identified two types of black holes. Smaller stellar-mass black holes form when stars explode. Larger supermassive black holes lie at the center of most galaxies, but their formation is a mystery. The newly discovered intermediate-mass black hole is medium-sized. Scientists say it may have formed from two or more smaller black holes.

Tomoharu Oka, a physicist from Keio University in Japan who helped make the discovery, says medium black holes may combine to become supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies.