Black Hole Next Door: The Cosmic Colossus

Astronomers have discovered a massive supermassive black hole, named LMC*, hidden in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy just 158,000 light years away from Earth. Despite being 600,000 times the mass of our sun, it went undetected until now. This discovery challenges previous understandings of dwarf galaxies. Researchers traced hypervelocity stars back to LMC*, highlighting its deep cosmic influence. The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission helped in this groundbreaking find, shifting our cosmic perspective once again.