In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have detected two supermassive black holes in close orbit around each other, located 800 million light years from Earth. This unprecedented finding, revealed in a paper published inThe astrophysical journalis about to shake the very fabric of reality as black holes collide in about 100 million years.
The team, led by postdoctoral researcher Anna Trindade Falcão of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the galaxy MCG-03-34-64. Located nearly a billion light-years away, the galaxy revealed three bright blobs of oxygen gas through Hubble’s advanced imaging capabilities.
The two black holes appeared to be extremely close to each other in optical wavelengths, so much so that they seemed to merge into a single entity. NASA has compared the cosmic spectacle to “two sumo wrestlers facing off.” By analyzing data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, researchers confirmed the presence of these powerful black holes within the bright spots.
Despite the discovery, scientists were unable to identify the origin of the third oxygen bubble observed by Hubble. It is hypothesized that the black holes may have started orbiting each other following a collision of their host galaxies.
The predicted collision of these black holes, which will occur more than 100 million years from now, is expected to release gravitational shock waves that will distort space-time over vast distances. Researchers describe the discovery of these supermassive black holes as “serendipitous,” and Trindade Falcão attributes it to the “astonishing resolution” of the Hubble telescope.
“This sight is not common in the nearby universe and tells us that there is something more inside the galaxy,” says Trindade Falcão. The discovery highlights the ability of modern telescopes to discover cosmic phenomena and expand our understanding of the universe.
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