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Space
Space
Science
Robert Lea

A monster black hole may be hiding in the galaxy next door: 'It is astounding'

Artist’s impression of a hypervelocity star ejected from the Large Magellanic Cloud.

The galaxy next door to the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), could be hiding a monstrous secret. This dwarf galaxy, a satellite of our galaxy, may have its own supermassive black hole.

Evidence for this hidden cosmic titan was delivered via hypervelocity stars at the edge of the Milky Way; these 'runaway stars' that appear to have been fired from the LMC by a hitherto undiscovered supermassive black hole.

The team behind this shocking discovery arrived at their findings when they investigated 21 hypervelocity stars traveling so fast they will soon break away from our galaxy.

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