If at the time the largest black holes in the universe were discovered now, an international team of scientists has found what appears to be the smallest black hole ever observed within a galaxy. This "tiny" object is located 340 million light years away , as detailed in The Astrophysical Journal Letters .
The black hole is 50,000 times the mass of the Sun and 100,000 times less massive than other black holes discovered at the center of other galaxies. According to the researchers, it is more than twice smaller than any other known object of its kind. "In a sense, it is a tiny supermassive black hole," says Elena Gallo, co-author of the work.
The distant galaxy in the center of which this black hole is located is RGG 118 . It is so small that in all probability it has never merged with any other galaxy , offering astronomers clues about a universe in its youngest stage. This structure will serve to gain a better understanding of the formation of galaxies in the early universe.
" These small galaxies can serve as analogs to galaxies in the early Universe . About galaxies like the Milky Way, it is not known what they were like in their youth ”, explains Vivienne Baldassare, co-author of the study.
