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A Missing Black Hole Leaves a 94-Year Orbit
Two decades of Hubble data and new Webb measurements revealed Omega Centauri's first confirmed stellar-mass black hole through its companion star's motion.
Summary
Two decades of Hubble data and new Webb measurements revealed Omega Centauri's first confirmed stellar-mass black hole through its companion star's motion.
Astronomers used astrometry from Hubble observations spanning 2002 to 2023, sharpened with Webb data, to track a visible star orbiting an unseen 4.46-solar-mass object in Omega Centauri. The mass rules out a neutron star, making oMEGACat BH-2 the cluster's first detected stellar-mass black hole. Its 94-year orbit is the longest known for a black-hole binary. One object does not account for the thousands predicted by models, but it establishes a method for finding the missing population.
Why it matters
Two decades of Hubble data and new Webb measurements revealed Omega Centauri's first confirmed stellar-mass black hole through its companion star's motion.
Limits and context
- One object does not account for the thousands predicted by models, but it establishes a method for finding the missing population.
Key claims
Two decades of Hubble data and new Webb measurements revealed Omega Centauri's first confirmed stellar-mass black hole through its companion star's motion.
Qualification: One object does not account for the thousands predicted by models, but it establishes a method for finding the missing population.
Evidence: source-2026-07-13-014
Sources
- NASA: Hubble finds Omega Centauri stellar-mass black holeNASA · official announcement
Corrections
No corrections have been recorded for this story.