A 30-year-old black hole offers a rare window into cosmic infancy
In short: Astronomers have identified what may be the youngest black hole in our local cosmic neighborhood. This discovery allows scientists to observe the development of a black hole in its earliest stages of existence.
Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, researchers identified a black hole remnant of the supernova SN 1979C. Located in the galaxy M100, roughly 50 million light-years from Earth, the object is estimated to be only 30 years old.
The progenitor was a star approximately 20 times more massive than our Sun. Because the supernova was first observed by an amateur astronomer in 1979, the resulting black hole provides a unique laboratory for studying how these objects evolve immediately following a stellar collapse.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Chandra Science Briefing Centers on "Baby" Black Hole Neighbor
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