An intermediate-mass black hole of over 500 solar masses in the galaxy ESO243-49
Abstract
Ultraluminous X-ray sources are extragalactic objects located outside the nucleus of the host galaxy with bolometric luminosities exceeding 1039ergs-1. These extreme luminosities-if the emission is isotropic and below the theoretical (Eddington) limit, where the radiation pressure is balanced by the gravitational pressure-imply the presence of an accreting black hole with a mass of ~102-105 solar masses (). The existence of such intermediate-mass black holes is in dispute, and though many candidates have been proposed, none are widely accepted as definitive. Here we report the detection of a variable X-ray source with a maximum 0.2-10keV luminosity of up to 1.1×1042ergs-1 in the edge-on spiral galaxy ESO243-49, with an implied conservative lower limit for the mass of the black hole of ~500.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- July 2009
- DOI:
- 10.1038/nature08083
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1001.0567
- Bibcode:
- 2009Natur.460...73F
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, published in Nature