Small Black Holes found the core of NGC 6397

A group of astronomers from the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris made a detailed study of the motion of the stars within the star cluster NGC 6397, and found evidence of a considerable number of intermediate mass black holes. These type of black holes are the long-sought “missing link” between supermassive black holes and stellar-mass black holes that form following the collapse of a single massive star. Also, this study found that most of these black holes are in the center of the cluster, which tells astronomers about the dynamics of the stars in the cluster. For more information visit the Hubblesite or chat with me here in the blog.

Science: Eduardo Vitral and Gary A. Mamon (Paris Institute of Astrophysics, Paris, France)
IMAGE: NASA, ESA, Tom M. Brown, Stefano Casertano, Jay Anderson (STScI)