Astronomers accidentally spot runaway black hole leaving trail of fresh stars

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Astronomers accidentally spot runaway black hole leaving trail of fresh stars

A runaway supermassive black hole is speeding through space and creating a trail of stars behind it, a phenomenon accidentally discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The rogue object, estimated to be 20 million times more massive than the Sun, is believed to have been forcefully kicked from its host galaxy after it came into contact with other supermassive black holes. It's now barreling through space at such a velocity, it could cross the distance from Earth to the Moon in just 14 minutes.

Black holes are usually destructive. They grow by gobbling up nearby matter, and can rip apart stars and swallow clouds of gas and dust. Nothing can escape their pull once past the event horizon, not even light. That said, a team led by Yale University scientists have discovered one hole that has created a whopping 200,000-light-year-long chain of newborn stars behind it.

More: https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/09/black_hole_stars/