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The Mystery of the Naked Black Hole (sciencemag.org)

Posted by Soulskill on from the smudge-on-telescope dept.

sciencehabit writes: Most, if not all, galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers surrounded by dense clouds of stars. Now, researchers have found one that seems to have lost almost its entire entourage. The team, which reported its find at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society, says it doesn't know what stripped the stars away. But it has put forward a tantalizing possibility: The object could be an extremely rare medium-sized black hole, which theorists have predicted but observers have never seen.

3 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. FTFY by bondsbw · · Score: 3, Funny

    The object could be a black hole, which theorists have predicted but observers have never seen.

    --
    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    1. Re:FTFY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well they went IN and found endless bookcases

      So there is a possibility that the phenomenon we know of as black holes are actually IKEA

  2. Isn't it obvious? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Funny

    The black hole lost its entire entourage because it ran out of money. All that white dust for non-stop parties don't come cheap.