SCIENTISTS have spotted a bizarre cloud of gas in space and it’s shaped like a tadpole.
The mysterious cloud has been aptly nicknamed the “Tadpole” and it’s said to be revolving around a “dark object” but no one is quite sure what that object is.
Keio University/NAOJ/Cover ImagesThis illustration shows the Tadpole and a possible black hole[/caption]
One theory is that the mysterious object is a black hole.
A team of Japanese researchers led by Miyuki Kaneko at Keio University think the suspected black hole could be 100,000 times more massive than the Sun.
They’ve published a paper on their theory in The Astrophysical Journal.
In the paper, the Tadpole is described as an “isolated, peculiar compact cloud.”
The researchers explain: “The spatial compactness of the Tadpole and absence of bright counterparts in other wavelengths indicate that the object could be an intermediate-mass black hole.”
The Tadpole is said to be a unique shape and because the object is such a mystery it will require more research.
It’s about 27,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
If it is hiding a black hole that means we have a new one in the Milky Way.
Scientists currently aren’t sure how many black holes are lurking in our galaxy.
The biggest one we know of is the supermassive Sagittarius A*.
Some researchers say that black hole is slowly devouring the Milky Way but think Earth is extremely safe from its pull for the foreseeable future.