One hundred black holes were immediately found in a globular cluster: they make up 20% of its mass

We are talking about the globular cluster Palomar 5, which is located in the constellation Serpens at a distance of 76 thousand light years

years from Earth. The authors of the new paper estimated the number and mass of black holes in a globular cluster to understand where black hole mergers occur.

Astrophysicists have long assumed that mostmergers of black holes occur in globular star clusters, but until recently, scientists did not know how many there could be. Thanks to our observation technique, similar information can be obtained for other objects.

Fabio Antonini, study author and research fellow at Cardiff University

Antonini and his colleagues tried to reproducethe process of formation of stellar streams. Based on detailed images of Palomar 5, they created a computer model of the cluster, which repeats 11.5 billion years of its existence.

As a result, the authors came to the conclusion thatThe structure of the cluster can only exist if there are approximately 100-120 black holes at its center with a mass 17-20 times that of the Sun. This number of black holes is about three times greater than the average number for the Milky Way. 

Such discrepancies, in turn, are associated withthe fact that black holes constantly eject stars from a globular cluster, but they themselves leave it extremely rarely, which simultaneously increases the density of their number. 

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