Scientists have found evidence of 10,000 black holes in the Milky Way galaxy, surrounding its central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*.
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The team of Columbia University-led researchers studied observations of the region made by the Earth-orbiting NASA telescope Chandra X-ray Observatory and discovered a dozen black holes within 3.26 light years paired up with stars and gathered around Sgr A*.
To understand just how many isolated black holes are in the area surrounding the heart of the galaxy, the team looked for black holes that mate with faint, low mass stars, and not just the black holes paired with bright bursts.
After analyzing the properties and spatial distribution of the pairs, the scientists extrapolated that there are about 10,000 isolated black holes in the region.
Their findings were published in the April 5 issue of Nature.
Astronomers have long predicted the existence of as many as 20,000 black holes in the center of our galaxy, but , according to Columbia astrophysicist Chuck Hailey, scientists had no proof — until now.
"This is just kind of astonishing that you could have a prediction for such a large number of objects and not find any evidence for them," Hailey told NPR.
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Before the recent discovery, scientists had only found evidence of about five dozen black holes throughout the galaxy.
"This finding confirms a major theory and the implications are many," Hailey said in a statement. "It is going to significantly advance gravitational wave research because knowing the number of black holes in the center of a typical galaxy can help in better predicting how many gravitational wave events may be associated with them. All the information astrophysicists need is at the center of the galaxy."
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