Scientists Discover Swarm of Black Holes in Milky Way Star Cluster
A team of astrophysicists has identified a swarm of over 100 stellar-mass black holes within the Palomar 5 star cluster, located approximately 80,000 light-years from Earth. This unique cluster, which spans 30,000 light-years, is characterized by its dense arrangement of old stars and is regarded as a remnant from the early universe.
Utilizing data from the Gaia space observatory, researchers conducted detailed N-body simulations to track the orbits of stars in the cluster, revealing that gravitational interactions likely ejected these stars into a tidal stream. Notably, the simulations suggested that the number of black holes in Palomar 5 could be three times higher than previously anticipated, accounting for over 20% of the cluster's total mass.
The findings indicate that Palomar 5 is likely to dissolve entirely in the next billion years, transforming into a stellar stream, a fate expected for many globular clusters. These insights may enhance our understanding of black hole populations and their collisions within star clusters, potentially shedding light on the elusive category of middleweight black holes.
This research is set to be published in Nature Astronomy.
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