The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan announced that its latest observation indicates that supermassive black holes do exist in the center of most infrared galaxies.

Supermassive black holes, with one to ten million solar mass, exist in majority of galaxies. X rays can detect evidence of such black holes that attract materials and generate radiations. However, there are large numbers of galaxies which are not so bright in visible light, but they radiate strongly in the infrared. Such galaxies are called "infrared galaxies".

Gases and dusts in such infrared galaxies bring difficulties for observations; therefore whether supermassive black holes exist in infrared galaxies has remained a myth.

Infrared telescope with wavelength of 3 microns is very effective in detecting supermassive black holes covered in dusts in infrared galaxies, because the infrared light with wavelength of 3 microns will not be absorbed by dusts, the statement of National Astronomical Observatory of Japan said.

By observing many infrared galaxies two billion light years away from the earth with the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, scientists have found evidences proving supermassive black holes' existence in majority of infrared galaxies. The result has been published on the Astrophysical Journal.

By People's Daily Online