- Astronomers used Hubble and Webb data to find the first stellar-mass black hole in Omega Centauri, named oMEGACat BH-2.
- The black hole has a mass of 4.46 solar masses, lower than expected, and orbits a visible star every 94 years, the longest orbital period known for such a binary.
- This discovery helps refine black hole formation theories and suggests the binary was dynamically formed within the cluster.
- Finding more black holes in globular clusters like Omega Centauri is crucial for understanding gravitational wave events.
- Future telescopes like NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope may help locate similar black hole binary systems.