understanding of how these monster black holes form–it throws
the field wide open.”
The discovery also means that more black holes may be in
the universe than astronomers previously thought. Originally,
scientists thought there might be a black hole at the center
of every large galaxy, but now it appears that supermassive
black holes can exist in smaller galaxies too. Researchers are
working to find out what else besides the size of a galaxy might
determine the mass of a
black hole.
Some scientists also
wonder if this black hole is
actually two black holes that
are circling each other and
A galaxy thought to contain two supermassive
black holes is shown in this Hubble image
(top). An artist’s rendering shows what two
circling black holes might look like (bottom).
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