Hubble Space Telescope Detects a Rare IMBH

In the last couple of decades, scientists got some depth knowledge about the black holes. Now they understand the black holes a lot better than ever. However, there are plenty of mysteries and mechanisms that scientists need to understand. Among all, IMBH, intermediate-mass black hole, is the biggest mystery that scientists are yet to solve. But, recently, the Hubble Space Telescope has identified an IMBH that is in the act of eating up a star.

More about IMBH

IMBH, the intermediate-mass black hole, are medium-sized black hole generally around 50k times heavier than our sun. Unlike the supermassive black holes and stellar-mass black holes, IMBH is quite known among the scientists’ community. Scientists don’t know about their assembling mechanism. Besides, they are yet to find out whether these IMBHs form supermassive black holes in the long term.

More about the Recent Discovery

The American Space Agency, NASA, revealed that it calculated its weight by using the x-ray glow emitted by the IMBH. NASA further revealed that the recently located black hole is bigger than the stellar-mass black holes. But, on the other hand, it is quite smaller than the supermassive black holes, which are present at the centre of the galaxy. NASA finds the optical emission from the outskirts of a galaxy in a star cluster. The space agency named the IMBH as 3XMMJ215022.4-055108.

Here is Why IMBHs are Rare to Find

Generally, such IMBHs are very hard to detect. As these black holes are relatively smaller and less active, it is quite difficult for the scientists to detect them. After examining it, NASA claimed that such black holes don’t have the required fuel. Besides, they also lack the strong gravitational pull that can attract the star. Therefore, scientists have to wait for the rare event when it eats up a star, to detect it.