(CNET) In the heart of the spiral galaxy NGC 3147 lies a supermassive black hole. That's not usually cause for concern because many galaxies hide supermassive black holes at their center and astronomers spot them doing really weird things all the time! However, this particular black hole, spotted by a team using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shouldn't exist. At least, not according to our current theories about the universe.
The mysterious black hole, weighing about 250 million times more than the sun, is detailed in astronomy journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in its July 11 publication. It's puzzling astronomers because it is encircled by a thin disk, known as an accretion disk, containing debris and gas rapidly racing around the hole's edge.
That disk shouldn't be there.