Astronomers say the Milky Way galaxy contains tens of millions of black holes caused by starbursts that may be hidden in the stars of our galaxy.
A new "cosmic survey" revealed that there may be more black holes than previously thought, and there may be close to 100 million black holes in the Milky Way galaxy.
The survey also suggests that mergers between black holes 30 times larger than the sun's size may be more common than previously thought, and that these mergers will allow for the discovery of more gravitational waves in the future.
"We think we've shown up to 100 million black holes in our galaxy," said James Ballock, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California at Irvine.
Researchers at the University of California launched the "cosmic census" after the first discovery of gravitational waves in 2015, in an attempt to study "the strangeness of these waves discovered by the Lego Observatory."
The waves, discovered by the observatory in a major historical achievement, were caused by the collision of two black holes 30 times larger than the sun mass, but scientists usually assume that the size of the black hole is close to the size of the sun.
"The discovery of gravitational waves was a very important event because it confirms" one of the basic predictions in Einstein's theory of general relativity, and then we look at the astrophysics of the actual result, which is the fusion of two black holes that are 30 times larger than the mass of the sun, "Ballock said.
"This was an amazing discovery that led us to ask about the extent of black holes in this size and how often they are integrated," he said.
The researchers identified the number of black holes based on what they know about star formation in different types of galaxies.
"Large galaxies are home to old stars and host old black holes as well," said Dr. Oliver Elbert, head of the team. Based on what we know about star formation in galaxies of all kinds, we can deduce the number of black holes formed in each.
Larger galaxies are known to contain mineral-rich stars, while smaller ones contain larger stars with a smaller amount of metal in their composition.