Intermediate Mass Hole in Globular Cluster of Stars

Today I will talk about the discovery of a black hole of intermediate mass.

Holes may have stellar masses (those of gravitational waves), they may be supermassive (those that exist in the center of galaxies), and may have intermediate mass.

The intermediate masses are not easy to find because they occur normally in difficult regions such as inside globular clusters of stars. Therefore, every discovery of this type of black hole should be celebrated.

In addition, astronomers think these intermediate mass black holes hold the missing link between black mass holes and supermassive black holes. That is, in studying such black holes astronomers are basically studying the evolutionary line of these intriguing objects of the universe.

Astronomers then hunt this kind of black hole.

Observing the globular cluster called NGC 6624, located 26,000 light-years away from Earth (ie located at the same distance from our central supermassive black hole), towards the constellation Sagittarius, astronomers discovered a pulsar called PSR B1820-30A, which most likely is orbiting a black hole.

This black hole would have the equivalent of 7500 times the mass of the Sun.

This pulsar has not been discovered now. In fact, it was discovered in 1990. Since then, astronomers have been analyzing 25 years of data collected to reach this conclusion.

The pulsars act as very precise clocks. This allows them to accurately calculate the distance to them, and also makes them very sensitive to any movement of massive objects around them, such as black holes of intermediate mass, thus allowing the discovery of those objects that are hidden there.

The movements measured from the time of the pulsar pulses allowed astronomers to calculate the parameters and mass of their fellow black hole.

This finding is very important because it provides data for a better understanding of how black holes of intermediate mass are formed and evolve, as well as how globular clusters form and evolve.