Astronomers may finally have a way to hunt for a monstrous supermassive black hole they suspect lurks in the dwarf galaxy next door.
The behemoth would be the second closest supermassive black hole to Earth, after Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) at the heart of the Milky Way, in the companion galaxy Leo I. This neighboring supermassive black hole, named Leo I*, was first proposed to exist in 2021, when astronomers noticed stars accelerating as they approached the heart of the dwarf galaxy. While this is good evidence in favor of a supermassive black hole, astronomers frustratingly couldn't get a direct image of emissions from Leo I* to prove it exists. Now, two researchers have proposed a solution.
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