New research suggests that some of the oldest black holes in the universe pass by our cosmic neighborhood at least once every decade, dragging planets in their wake. If scientists manage to detect them, it could be the first evidence of the existence of these black holes in the form of dark matter.
Black holes, regions of enormous gravity that absorb even light, are among the most mysterious objects in space. Perhaps the most surprising among them, however, are primordial black holes.
Astronomers theorize that they were created when dense, hot regions of space collapsed shortly after the Big Bang.
Their masses are predicted to range from one hundred thousandth the mass of the Sun to 100,000 solar masses, depending on the timing of their appearance in the first second after the Big Bang.
Some scientists think black holes of this mass between asteroids are especially important because they are likely to be composed primarily of dark matter, the mysterious substance that holds together the components of galaxies.
However, there’s a problem. According to scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Theory Center, no astronomical observations have definitively identified a black hole of this type and mass, and despite its asteroid-like mass, it has “a hydrogen molecule and the size of an average bacterium.” It appears to be “between”. Physics. Even if such a black hole were to collide with the Earth, the Earth would not be destroyed. But new research published on the preprint database arXiv suggests that such black holes should have subtle effects on objects within our solar system.
source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.17217