--- title: Scientists May Have Found Another Black Hole in Milky Way description: Astronomers have found evidence of a black hole hiding within the Milky Way canonical: https://time.com/4926630/milky-way-black-hole/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-04T20:34:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:16:21.667Z article:section: Science og:title: Scientists May Have Found Another Black Hole in the Milky Way og:description: It could shed light on how galaxies are formed og:url: https://time.com/4926630/milky-way-black-hole/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16e5588bb250509b/6988dc557cdbac628ad59df0/gettyimages-635842092-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A scene at the Nova East Star Party near Windsor og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists May Have Found Another Black Hole in the Milky Way twitter:description: It could shed light on how galaxies are formed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16e5588bb250509b/6988dc557cdbac628ad59df0/gettyimages-635842092-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists May Have Found Another Black Hole in the Milky Way by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 4, 2017 8:34 PM UTC  A scene at the Nova East Star Party near Windsor, Nova Scotia, in August 2015, showing laser pointer in use under a clear starry sky. A scene at the Nova East Star Party near Windsor, Nova Scotia, in August 2015, showing laser pointer in use under a clear starry sky.VW Pics—UIG via Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 4, 2017 8:34 PM UTC Scientists have found evidence that a mid-sized [black hole](http://time.com/4625804/astronomers-nasa-black-hole/) about 100,000 times more massive than the sun is hiding within the Milky Way, a discovery that could shed new light on the process by which galaxies grow. Astronomers in Japan collected data supporting the black hole’s existence while exploring a cloud of molecular gas located near the center of the [Milky Way](http://time.com/4494202/milky-way-galaxy-map/), in which the gas moved at vastly different speeds. As they studied the cloud, the researchers saw a clump of gas toward the center of the cloud that appeared to be moved around by massive gravitational forces, they said in a [_Nature Astronomy_ report](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-017-0224-z) published Monday. (Black holes emit no light of their own, so in order to find them, scientists often look for evidence of nearby gravitational disruptions.) Located near the clump of gas was a source of radio waves resembling those of Sagittarius A, the massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, [_Science_ reports](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/09/long-rumored-midsized-black-hole-may-be-hiding-out-milky-way). The similarities could indicate the existence of a mid-sized black hole, the researchers say. While scientists have data supporting the existence of supermassive and small black holes, _Science_ reports they lacked evidence of the mid-sized variety. The scientists said the black hole could have formed after a former core of a dwarf galaxy was absorbed by the Milky Way. If the discovery is confirmed, it would support the theory that galaxies grow by “cannibalizing their smaller neighbors,” the [researchers wrote](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-017-0224-z). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4926630/milky-way-black-hole/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4926630/milky-way-black-hole/"},"headline":"Scientists May Have Found Another Black Hole in the Milky Way","datePublished":"2017-09-04T20:34:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:16:21.667Z","description":"It could shed light on how galaxies are formed","url":"https://time.com/4926630/milky-way-black-hole/","keywords":["Space","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16e5588bb250509b/6988dc557cdbac628ad59df0/gettyimages-635842092-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16e5588bb250509b/6988dc557cdbac628ad59df0/gettyimages-635842092-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A scene at the Nova East Star Party near Windsor","caption":"A scene at the Nova East Star Party near Windsor","creditText":"VW Pics—UIG via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4926630/milky-way-black-hole/","name":"Scientists May Have Found Another Black Hole in the Milky Way"}}]}] ```