A team of scientists has reportedly come up with a new way to find dim black holes. In a study published on Thursday in the prestigious journal Science, a team of astronomers from Ohio State University have claimed to have discovered a new class of black holes-one that is smaller than any previously known in the universe.

Scientists have reportedly discovered a strange black hole star pair and in the new study, they have demonstrated how dimmer black holes can be spotted in the night sky. The new black hole discovered is around 3.3 times as massive as the Sun, and scientists believe it is in a binary system called J05215658 which is located about 10,000 light-years away in the outer edge of the Milky Way’s disk. Most black holes known to science are between 5–15 times the Sun's mass. Black Hole First Photo Released! Watch Video and Pictures of Black Hole Found in M87 Galaxy.

According to a Space.com report, Todd Thompson, a professor in the Department of Astronomy at the Ohio State University was quoted saying, "Spotting the elusive black hole was a "needle-in-the-haystack kind of search."

The method used to locate a hidden black hole was, the scientists looked at the Doppler shift of stars and compared it to their brightness over time. A strong Doppler shift indicates a strong source of gravity. Also when the brightness of the star goes up and down in a set pattern, it indicated that there is a large object orbiting the star, which sometimes blocks its light. Taking both these factors into consideration, the scientists were able to suggest the presence of a black hole.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 01, 2019 04:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).