1 month ago
11.9K
1.5K
25
41
Caption: Replying to @waterharvester4Here's how you can spot Omega Centauri! If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, look toward the Southern Cross and the two “pointer” s… more Replying to @waterharvester4Here's how you can spot Omega Centauri! If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, look toward the Southern Cross and the two “pointer” stars nearby. Just above the nearest pointer, extend your gaze a little further. That faint smudge? That’s Omega Centauri. It’s a massive globular cluster containing about 10 million stars — and recent research has found the strongest direct evidence yet for an intermediate-mass black hole hiding at its centre. How did they find it? Scientists measured the speeds of 1.4 million stars using over 500 images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The best part? Many of those images were taken during Hubble’s early calibration phase — when it wasn’t even fully operational yet. They found seven stars moving so fast they should have been flung out of the cluster. Just… yeet. But something massive is holding them in place. Based on their speeds, that “something” is likely an intermediate-mass black hole weighing about 8,200 Suns. So when you spot that fuzzy blob in the sky, you’re looking at millions of stars… and a rare type of black hole hidden inside. #BlackHoles #HubbleSpaceTelescope #SouthernCross #Astronomy #SpaceFacts less
Download Video Download Audio MP3 Download Cover Image