Astronomers have discovered a new cosmic object that's probably the missing link that could help scientists figure out the evolution of black holes.

This object is classified as an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). It's called the NGC-2276-3c and is located in the arm of spiral galaxy NGC-2276 some 100 million light years from our planet.

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IMBHs are often thought to possess a mass of anything from a few hundred to more than 100,000 suns. They are named as intermediate since they fall into the category between stellar mass black holes and those colossal ones found in the center of massive galaxies that can amass billions of stars.

Researchers believe that IMBHs were the seeds from which supermassive black holes grow. These elusive cosmic objects, however, are hard to come by as they also happen to be midsize structures.

Astronomers has been searching long and hard for these medium sized black holes, according to co author of the study Tim Roberts from the University of Durham, U.K. Although there are clues they might exist, IMBHs seem like the type of black holes not interested in being found.

Along with lead author of the study, Mar Mezcua from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the team studied NGC-2276-3c using X-ray light from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and radio light from the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network.

The combination of these observations was derived from the known relationship between black hole mass and the luminosity in X-ray and radio wavelengths. After their calculations, the team concluded the galaxy's mass is about equal to 50,000 suns.

According to co author Andrei Lobanov from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany said NGC 2276-3c apparently has similar traits as stellar mass black holes and supermassive blackholes. This means this particular object makes the whole black hole family tree complete.

Researchers also discovered that this black hole is emanating powerful radio jets that can extend up to 2,000 light years into deep space.

Another study about the possible origin of the NGC 2276-3c black hole was led by Anna Wolter from the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy. She used the Chandra observations and found out that five to 15 suns form each year in the NGC 2276 galaxy. This suggests this high star formation rate is the result of a merger with a neighboring dwarf galaxy.

These studies will be published in the journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

TagsScientists Found the Missing Link in the Black Hole Family Tree, intermediate mass black hole, Black Holes, NASA, NASA Chandra X-ray observatory, IMBH black hole family tree missing link, IMBH