This image of Abell 2261 contains X-ray data from Chandra (pink) showing hot gas pervading the cluster as well as optical data from Hubble and the Subaru Telescope that show galaxies in the cluster and in the background. Astronomers used these telescopes to search galaxy in the center of the image for evidence of a black hole, weighing between 3 and 100 billion times the Sun, that is expected to be there. No sign of this black hole was found, deepening a mystery about what is happening in this system. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/K. Gültekin ; Optical: NASA/STScI and NAOJ/Subaru; Infrared: NSF/NOAO/KPNO; Radio: NSF/NOAO/VLA
This image of Abell 2261 contains X-ray data from Chandra ( pink ) showing hot gas pervading the cluster as well as optical data from Hubble and the Subaru Telescope that show galaxies in the cluster and in the background. Astronomers used these telescopes to search galaxy in the center of the image for evidence of a black hole, weighing between 3 and 100 billion times the Sun, that is expected to be there. No sign of this black hole was found, deepening a mystery about what is happening in this system. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/K. Gültekin ; Optical: NASA/STScI and NAOJ/Subaru; Infrared: NSF/NOAO/KPNO; Radio: NSF/NOAO/VLA The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a supermassive black hole has deepened. Despite searching with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have no evidence that a distant black hole estimated to weigh between 3 billion and 100 billion times the mass of the sun is anywhere to be found. This missing black hole should be in the enormous galaxy in the center of the galaxy cluster Abell 2261, which is located about 2.7 billion light-years from Earth.
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