Revealing a Mini-Supermassive Black Hole

Revealing a Mini-Supermassive Black Hole

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One of the lowest mass supermassive black holes ever observed in the middle of a galaxy has been identified, thanks to NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other observatories. The host galaxy is of a type not expected to harbor supermassive black holes, suggesting that this black hole, while related to its supermassive cousins, may have a different origin.

The black hole is located in the middle of the spiral galaxy NGC 4178, and an analysis of the Chandra data, along with infrared data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and radio data from the NSF’s Very Large Array suggests that the black hole is near the extreme low-mass end of the supermassive black hole range. These results were published in a recent issue of The Astrophysical Journal.