The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy has consumed almost everything around it, making it grow larger and larger. This is similar to the mythical Kammapa of the Sotho people of southern Africa. Most massive galaxies have black holes that weigh as much as thousands, millions, or even billions of suns at their centers. However, some astrophysicists believe that unusual black holes that exist in the nearby universe could provide untapped clues to the universe’s infancy and adolescence. “We can, weirdly, [learn about] the super-beginning of the universe by looking at things really close to us,” says theoretical astrophysicist Jillian Bellovary of Queensborough Community College in New York City. For years, this idea remained just a notion. But now, astronomers have discovered signs of unexpectedly massive black holes in the universe’s tiniest galaxies. Surprisingly, some of these black holes do not appear to sit at their galaxies’ centers. Even more intriguing, astronomers have observed black holes wandering at their galaxies’ edges and, in rare cases, being kicked from their homes into intergalactic space.
2023-06-02 06:00:00
Original from www.sciencenews.org
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