BEIJING, Oct. 14 -- U.S. astronomers peering through NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory announced Thursday that they believe the black hole at the center of the Milky Way helped create new stars, not just destroy them.

The mysterious, destructive black hole could actually have helped create new stars.

    This Jekyll-and-Hyde nature suggested by the new finding may help scientists understand the physics of black holes, said Sterl Phinney, a professor of theoretical astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who was not part of the study.

    "Massive black holes are usually known for violence and destruction," said Sergei Nayakshin of the University of Leicester in England, who made the discovery. "So it's remarkable that this black hole helped create new stars, not just destroy them."

    Researchers have debated why large stars can orbit so close to massive black holes. Black holes are believed to be the invisible remains of collapsed stars. Their gravitational pull is so powerful not even light can escape.

    The latest discovery suggests the thick discs of gas orbiting black holes counteracts their huge gravitational pull, protecting stars as they form.

    Scientists have ruled out the possibility that a star cluster formed elsewhere and migrated near the black hole. Some 10,000 low-mass stars formed near the black hole. If there had been a migration, scientists surmised they would have found at least a million such stars.

    The observations will be published in a future issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 

(Agencies)