Astronomers say the Milky Way may not contain a supermassive black hole at its center after all. Instead, the galaxy's core could be dominated by an enormous concentration of dark matter that produces the same powerful gravitational effects, Report informs referring to the Science Daily.

This unseen material, which makes up most of the universe's total mass, may be able to explain two very different observations at once.

Near the galaxy's center, stars move in fast, chaotic paths just light hours (often used to measure distances within our own solar system) from the core.

Farther out, stars and gas rotate more smoothly across the vast outer regions of the Milky Way.

The findings were published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).

The research was carried out by scientists from institutions in several countries, including the Institute of Astrophysics La Plata in Argentina, the International Centre for Relativistic Astrophysics Network and the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy, the Relativity and Gravitation Research Group in Colombia, and the Institute of Physics University of Cologne in Germany.

"This is the first time a dark matter model has successfully bridged these vastly different scales and various object orbits, including modern rotation curve and central stars data," said study co author Dr. Carlos Argüelles of the Institute of Astrophysics La Plata.

"We are not just replacing the black hole with a dark object; we are proposing that the supermassive central object and the galaxy's dark matter halo are two manifestations of the same, continuous substance."

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