(Picture: Nasa/ESA/Hubble)
Astronomers have just discovered a super massive black hole - the largest type - at the centre of the M60-UCD1 galaxy.
It was found at the heart of the compact dwarf galaxy - about 1/500th the size of the Milky Way - 50 million light years from Earth. The black hole is thought to weigh as much as 21 million times the weight of our own sun.
Researchers from the University of Utah hope the discovery, could prove a theory that these small galaxies may have black holes at their centre owing to their density.
It was found at the heart of the compact dwarf galaxy - about 1/500th the size of the Milky Way - 50 million light years from Earth. The black hole is thought to weigh as much as 21 million times the weight of our own sun.
Researchers from the University of Utah hope the discovery, could prove a theory that these small galaxies may have black holes at their centre owing to their density.
"This finding suggests that dwarf galaxies may actually be the stripped remnants of larger galaxies that were torn apart during collisions with other galaxies, rather than small islands of stars born in isolation. We don’t know of any other way you could make a black hole so big in an object this small."