Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery, revealing the presence of a supermassive black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galactic neighbors to the Milky Way. The finding was made using data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission and confirms that about half of hypervelocity stars are linked to a massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Researchers used a technique similar to forensic analysis to determine the origin of these fast-moving stars, which travel so quickly that they will escape the gravitational pull of the Milky Way or any nearby galaxy. The team found that about half of the hypervelocity stars come from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, while the other half originated from a previously unknown giant black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
“This discovery is astounding because we had another supermassive black hole right next door,” said Jesse Han of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. “Black holes are stealthy, and this one has been hiding in plain sight.”
The researchers used improved models to understand the orbit of the Large Magellanic Cloud around the Milky Way and combined it with Gaia data to make the remarkable discovery. Hypervelocity stars are created when a double-star system ventures too close to a supermassive black hole, causing the star to be torn apart.
The team’s findings reveal that the properties of hypervelocity stars cannot be explained by other mechanisms, leaving only one explanation: the existence of a massive black hole in our cosmic neighborhood. The discovery provides new insights into the properties of these fast-moving stars and the role of supermassive black holes in shaping galaxy evolution.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2025-03-runaway-stars-reveal-hidden-black.html