Supermassive Black Holes ‘Waltzing’ Through Space
An image of the galaxy COSMOS J100043.15+020637.2. The tidal tail of stars, gas, and dust shows that this galaxy recently merged with another galaxy, which brought two supermassive black holes into this galaxy. (NASA/ASA)
Our galaxy will soon (3 billion years) get into the universal dance party and join the other 33 known galaxies containing a pair of supermassive black holes — we will, of course, be annihilated.
Scientists with Berkeley unveiled new research showing that the phenomenon is actually much more common than once thought.
The numbers “show that dual supermassive black hole systems are much more common than previously known from observations,” Dr. Comerford, a postdoctoral researcher in astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, said via press release.
Researchers spotted the dancers by watching redshifting (traveling away) light and blueshifting (traveling away from the black hole) at the center of neighboring galaxies. Just as the Kepler probe spots a gap between the sun and orbiting planets, Berkeley researchers saw a gap between the celestial giants.
The two black holes pull against each other and tug at nearby stars, making a huge mess of the galaxy but also making for a very interesting glimpse into the depths of our universe.
Via Berkeley’s Department of Astronomy.
