Omega Centauri Hides Middle-Weight Black Hole

The most logical explanation, they say, is a medium-sized black hole that is about 40,000 times bigger than our sun. Only one other black hole of this size has been found, said astronomer Karl Gebhardr with the University of Texas at Austin.

"This result shows that there is a continuous range of masses for black holes, from supermassive, to intermediate-mass, to small stellar-mass types, said astronomer Eva Noyola with the Max-Planck Institute in Germany.

Scientists theorize that intermediate-mass black holes may be seeds for supermassive black holes, which exist in the centers of many galaxies, including the Milky Way. "We may be on the verge of uncovering one possible mechanism for the formation of supermassive black holes," Noyola said.

Scientists next plan to use the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile for followup observations.

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