Gargantuan black hole found at the heart of dwarf galaxy

A supermassive black hole (SMBH) has been found lurking in an unexpected location – at the heart of an ultra-compact dwarf galaxy – according to new observations made by an international team of astronomers. Although SMBHs are thought to reside at the centre of most large galaxies including our own Milky Way, this is the smallest galaxy known to host a black hole. The team’s findings suggest that many other such ultra-compact dwarf galaxies may house black holes, meaning that there may be many more SMBHs in our galactic neighbourhood than previously thought.