Supermassive Black Hole Of Dwarf Galaxy M60-UCD1 Secrets Revealed: NASA Finds Unlikely Object In Improbable Place [VIDEO]

NASA has discovered a monstrous supermassive black hole within one of the smallest galaxies in the known universe. Physicists describe the remarkable discovery as "an unlikely object in an improbable place.”

Here's how tiny the galaxy is: the small dwarf galaxy known as M60-UCD1 is approximately 1/500th the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy. According to the data, M60-UCD1 possesses 140 million stars within its miniscule diameter of about 300 light-years.

Now, here's how enormous the supermassive black hole is: the black hole within M60-UCD1 measures five times the mass of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Our black hole possesses the mass of four million suns. This means the supermassive black hole's mass is close to the equivalent of 20 million suns.

Here's another comparison: the black hole within the Milky Way accounts for 0.01 percent of the out galaxy's total mass. The supermassive black hole is 15 percent of M60-UCD1's total mass. The Milky Way is 500 times larger, and 1,000 times heavier than the M60-UCD1 dwarf galaxy. Wow.

This incredible phenomenon was recently discovered when our Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini North 8-meter optical and infrared telescope of Hawaii pointed its lenses at M60-UCD1. The Hubble captures sharp images that allow us to understand M60-UCD1's diameter and stellar density. Next, the Gemini North lenses are able to measure the stellar motions that are affecteed by the black hole's pull. Togehter, the Hubble and the Gemini are able to determine all the data points necessary to calculate the mass of the monster black hole.

NASA physicists called the supermassive black hole within M60-UCD1 as an unlikely object in an improbably place. So how did it get there? Astronomers believe the M60-UCD1 dwarf galaxy could actually be what is left of what was once a larger galaxy. A violent collision with another galaxy could tear M60-UCD1 apart. Astronomers suggest that M60-UCD1 could have once contained 10 billion stars before it passed too closely to the center of an even larger galaxy, which caused all stars and dark matter in its outer edges to derail from its gravitation pull.

“M60-UCD1 may eventually be pulled to fully merge with M60, which has its own monster black hole that weighs a whopping 4.5 billion solar masses, or more than 1,000 times bigger than the black hole in our galaxy,” a NASA statement said. “When that happens, the black holes in both galaxies also likely will merge.”

Be sure to learn more about the M60-UCD1 and its supermassive black hole in the video below: