Astronomers have discovered a giant black hole on the other side of the galaxy, stressing that they had not imagined the existence of holes of this size in the past.
In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Chinese astronomers gave details of their discovery of a new black hole, called LB-1, in the Milky Way galaxy, about 70 times larger than the sun, according to website CBS.
Jifeng Liu, of the National Observatory of Chinese Astronomy, who led the research, said he estimated the Milky Way had 100 million stellar black holes, but the LB-1 was larger than scientists had thought possible.
"There can be no black holes of this magnitude in our galaxy according to most prevailing theories about the evolution of stars," Jifeng said.
Scientists believe that there are two types of black holes, the most common stellar holes are formed, which is 20 times larger than the sun, when a very large star explodes.
"This discovery forces us to rethink our models of how star-shaped black holes are formed," said David Reitze, director of the Florida Geological Wave Interference Observatory.
Recent studies have revealed ripples in time and space due to collisions of black holes that then merge to form new larger holes, but this is the first time that a black hole of this size has been discovered in the Milky Way.
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