Scientists while studying a gamma-ray burst from three billion years ago discovered the existence of a previously undetected black hole. The existence of such a black hole was doubted for many years.
Australian researchers James Paynter, Rachel Webster, and Eric Thrane used the technique of gravitational lensing to detect the intermediate-mass celestial body. This black hole is being considered an ancient relic, of the universe that must have been created before the origin of stars and galaxies.
Gamma rays are released when a high-mass star collapses and forms a neutron star or black hole. GRBs are the most energetic form of electromagnetic events throughout the universe, where short bursts of Gamma-rays travel at the speed of light.
A Gamma-ray burst from a distant source known as GRB 950830 was first observed in 1995 when the light reached earth. These rays when coming under the influence of a strong gravitational field tend to bend. The bending of light was observed by the researchers which led to the discovery of the Goldilock classification black hole.
Classification of black holes
Black holes are celestial objects of high mass density in an extremely small space. The universe has an abundance of black holes of different masses. Every galaxy contains at least one black hole. Up till now only a handful of the intermediate class black holes have been discovered and none of them have been close to the Goldilock black hole.
All black holes ever observed can be classified into two well-known categories based on their size and the gravitational force exerted. Stellar class, which is 3 to 10 the mass of our sun, is generated when a high mass star collapses. The other type is the Supermassive class, which is highly abundant in the universe and its origin is yet to be determined. Their size can be hundreds of thousands of times more than the size of the sun.
Unveiling the secrets of our universe
The Goldilock black hole can be the answer to the question of “how did the Supermassive black holes came into existence?”
Many scientists believed that Supermassive black holes originated from the Stellar class, but there is no observational or theoretical evidence to justify the theory. This intermediate class Goldilock blackhole can explain the origin of the Supermassive counterpart.
Also Read, The Curious Case Of ‘Fast Radio Bursts’ From Space Repeating Every 16 Days
