Discovery of a Massive Black Hole Near the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy

A massive black hole, hundreds of thousands of times larger than the Sun, has been discovered near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. According to The Guardian, astronomers say this black hole was hidden behind a backdrop of toxic clouds. If this discovery is confirmed, it will be the second largest black hole found in the Milky Way to date. The title of the largest black hole discovered belongs to 'Sagittarius A*', which is located precisely at the center of our galaxy. Japanese astronomers became suspicious of the existence of this black hole when they noticed strange movements of gases in that region of the galaxy. They were observing the galaxy using the Atacama Telescope located in a desert in Chile. These gases move at different speeds compared to other gases that form interstellar clouds. Observations made by the ALMA telescope, also located in Chile, show that the molecules of elliptical clouds, which are 200 light-years away from the center of the Milky Way and 150 kilometers wide, are being pulled by a massive gravitational force. A computer model created based on this data predicts that a black hole located 1.4 trillion kilometers away from these clouds is causing this pull. Smaller black holes form when a star reaches the end of its life and explodes. According to astronomers' calculations, the Milky Way contains nearly 100 million small black holes, of which only sixty have been observed. However, astronomers know that there is a very massive black hole at the center of every galaxy. For example, 'Sagittarius A*' is four million times larger than the Sun. What remains unknown is how these extremely large black holes are formed. One existing theory suggests that smaller black holes are continuously gathering together to form a massive black hole at the center of the galaxy. However, until now, there has been no clear evidence of a medium-sized black hole. If the existence of this newly discovered black hole, which is a hundred thousand times larger than the Sun, is confirmed, it could be said that this black hole may have formed from the accumulation of several smaller black holes and is in the process of merging with 'Sagittarius A*' at the center of the galaxy. Dr. Tomoharu Oka from Keio University in Japan, who leads the research team for this discovery, states that this newly discovered black hole could be the center of an ancient dwarf galaxy that was swallowed billions of years ago during the formation of the Milky Way galaxy. The results of these new discoveries have been published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy.