Is it possible for a star to be born close to a black hole?

Under the direction of Dr Florian Peißker of the Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Cologne, scientists have discovered a young star which has formed near a black hole. The star, called X3a, is only a few tens of thousands of years old and is situated at the centre of our Milky Way, near the black hole Sagittarius A*. However, this young star in theory could not exist so close to a black hole. Researchers believe it formed from dust clouds orbiting the black hole and only later moved to its current location.

The newly formed star is 10 times larger and 15 times more massive than our Sun. According to scientists, there is a region several light years away from the black hole that fully meets the conditions for star formation. This area, a gigantic ring of gas and dust, would be sufficiently cold and protected from the destructive radiation of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*.

Scientists think it formed from a cloud dense enough to collapse beneath its own gravity to form one or more protostars. It is the hypothesis that best suits the age of X3a. To find out if young stars form in this way in other galaxies, scientists will observe them with the help of the James Webb space telescope, one of the most sophisticated tools to better understand how the universe works.

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