ω Centauri is the most massive globular cluster in the Milky Way and is known to host an intermediate-mass black hole (BH) at its centre.
It also likely hosts many stellar-mass BHs, although none have been discovered until now.
Matthew Whitaker and colleagues revisit this cluster using space-based telescopes and confirm the existence of a stellar-mass BH accompanied by a main-sequence turn-off star.
The binary system was identified from combined HST and JWST astrometry data spanning 23 years.
This makes a stellar-mass BH the most likely interpretation.
ω Centauri is the most massive globular cluster in the Milky Way and is known to host an intermediate-mass black hole (BH) at its centre. It also likely hosts many stellar-mass BHs, although none have been discovered until now. Matthew Whitaker and colleagues revisit this cluster using space-based telescopes and confirm the existence of a stellar-mass BH accompanied by a main-sequence turn-off star.
The binary system was identified from combined HST and JWST astrometry data spanning 23 years. Whitaker and colleagues constrain the best-fitting orbit of a long-period (P = 94 years), eccentric (e = 0.72) binary system containing a dark component with a mass of 4.46 M ⊙ , heavier than that of the most massive known neutron star (2.08 M ⊙ ). This makes a stellar-mass BH the most likely interpretation. The estimated binary disruption timescale (~ 820 Myr) is short, suggesting that the system formed through dynamical interactions.
