Free floating black hole spotted for the first time
Technology
Free floating black hole spotted for the first time.
(Web Desk) - A team of researchers confirms the presence of a black hole floating through the interstellar space. The researchers have also published a paper that explains the discovery made by them. It was explained that a possible microlensing event that had been witnessed back in 2011 was due to the existence of a free-roaming black hole in space.
It’s not an easy task to spot a black hole due to the fact that the interstellar serves as the dark backdrop making the black holes somewhat invisible to be seen. The scientist have always mentioned the presence of black holes in space but never spotted one. This is the very first time that the researchers have succeeded in finding a free-floating black hole.
The prior research explains that black holes are the remains of dead stars. It could be said that the black holes come into existence when stars reach the end of their life span and their cores collapse, generally producing a supernova. As many supernova could be spotted that leads to the conclusion that there must many black holes roaming about in space.
The strategy adopted by the scientist to spot a black hole works with the idea of lensing effects. To look for a black hole, they try to find if the light emerging from a star shows bent at some point because research suggests that the bent could be because of the pull of a black hole. But the lensing effect is slight that makes it nearly impossible to detect even with the best modern telescope.
The researcher’s efforts paid off when they succeeded back in 2011. A star that appeared to brighten up for no apparent reason gripped the attention of two project teams that were indulged in finding such a lensing. The research continued on the spotted star for 6 years, each and every change with the star’s light was studied and observed with the expectations that the changes were due to the magnification of a black hole. Also the position of the star was detected to show changes making the researchers believe that it could be due to the pull of an entity present nearby. Finally it was concluded that the light was a result of the lensing effect and also it was confirmed that the magnification had a long duration, both of which are prerequisites to confirming the existence of a black hole.
All the evidences directed to the clear signs of the presence of a black hole. It’s size was also measured at seven solar masses and it was found to be travelling at approximately 45 km/second.
