Astronomers have found the first stellar-mass black hole in Omega Centauri, locked with a star in a 94-year orbit - the longest-period black hole binary yet found
Astronomers have discovered a stellar-mass black hole in the Omega Centauri globular cluster, marking the first such find in the region. The black hole is part of a binary system with a 94-year orbital period, the longest ever recorded for such a pair.
Why it matters
This discovery confirms long-standing theoretical models regarding the population of black holes in massive star clusters.
By the time a star in Omega Centauri finishes a single loop around its companion, a person born at the start of that orbit would be pushing a hundred.
By Space Daily Editorial Team · Editorial process
By the time a star in Omega Centauri finishes a single loop around its companion, a person born at the start of that orbit would be pushing a hundred. The star takes 94 years to come around once, and the thing it circles gives off no light at all. After weighing the star’s slow arc across two decades of images, astronomers have concluded that the dark companion is a black hole of about four and a half times the Sun’s mass. It is the first stellar-mass black hole ever pinned down in Omega Centauri, and the pair holds the longest orbital period of any black hole binary yet found.
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