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Astronomers have located a black hole in a dwarf galaxy that is situated millions of light-years away from us. This time it is special because the astronomers did not think that there exists any black hole which could be impacting the stars present in that dwarf galaxy. But they managed to track this unknown blackhole by detecting the Tidal Disruption Event where a black hole devours any star or similar body. The Tidal Disruption Event which came after the destruction of a star by this black hole was so powerful and bright that it outshined every other star present in that galaxy. Because this emitted radiation of immense power, astronomers were able to locate this black hole. Astronomers and researchers are using this TDE to understand the relationship between galaxies and the black hole present at the center of these galaxies.
Astronomers said that the flare of TDE from this unknown black hole was first identified using the Young Supernova Experiment. The Young Supernova Experiment detects short-lived space events such as supernova explosions and documents them, as this time, the event of TDE as the blackhole shredded a star was reported. The initial observation of this event was carried out by Charlotte Angus who is the astronomer from the Niels Bohr Institute and also the first author of a research paper published regarding this study. These initial observations related to the destruction of a star by this black hole allowed the team to effectively measure the mass of this black hole as the team has categorized this black hole as an intermediate-mass black hole. According to the results, this black hole has a mass of 100,000 and 1 million times the mass of the sun. The mass of any black hole is generally measured in terms of how heavy it is in terms of the star of our solar system, the sun.
Using events such as the TDEs to measure the mass of a black hole is not a new concept. It has been used countless times to measure the mass of many supermassive black holes in the past. The reason why this time is special is that this is the first time that TDE has been effectively used to measure the masses of small to intermediate-sized black holes, which have much smaller signatures than the supermassive black holes. The successful completion of this project suggests that the TDE analysis now could be used successfully in the future to determine the masses of medium to small-sized black holes.
Charlotte Angus, the leading astronomer in this international team of astronomers, stated that the fact that the team has been able to locate this mid-sized black hole as it engulfed a star is phenomenal for future research to detect blackholes which generally stay hidden due to their lower signature. She further stated that this can also be used to determine the properties of elusive groups of black holes that are present at the center of many galaxies. This study has provided a needed direction to study the mid-sized black holes that are found in small galaxies such as dwarf galaxies.
Yash Ranjan11/11/2022
