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A dormant black hole nine times the mass of the Sun has been found outside the Milky Way for the first time.
A researcher from the University of Sheffield says this black hole is “the first to be unequivocally detected outside our galaxy”.
Researchers had searched for binary black hole systems for more than two years before finding what has become known as VFTS243.
Paul Crowther, professor of astrophysics at the university, described it as a “very exciting discovery” which comes after “a number of cases have been put forward for dormant black holes”.
Stellar-mass black holes form when massive stars reach the end of their lives and collapse under their own gravity. In a system of two stars orbiting each other, this process leaves behind an orbiting black hole with a bright companion star.
The newly discovered dormant black hole is at least nine times the mass of Earth’s Sun and orbits a hot blue star that weighs 25 times more than the Sun.
A black hole is considered dormant if it does not emit high levels of X-ray radiation, which is how such black holes are usually detected. Dormant black holes are difficult to detect as they do not interact much with their surroundings.
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