Trio Of Massive Black Holes Discovered
- 10 years ago
Astronomers were excited to announce that not long ago they discovered a rare trio of supermassive black holes in a galaxy far, far away.
Astronomers were excited to announce that not long ago they discovered a rare trio of supermassive black holes in a galaxy far, far away.
The anomaly is about 4 billion light years from here and is only the fifth such grouping known.
It’s theorized that all large galaxies have one of the big gravity pits at their center, each having a mass of anywhere between a million and 10 billion suns.
From time to time, scientists will stumble along black hole pairs, a phenomenon that’s believed to occur when galaxies merge.
When the area between the two is particularly tight they’re said offer unique and exciting research opportunities that could result in a better understanding of the formation of the universe.
The new black hole trio offers such an opportunity, as two of the three travel in close proximity to one another. Close in this case, by the way, means a few thousand trillion miles.
Astronomers hope to detect the immense and fast gravitational waves likely being emitted by the duo.
Said a scientist not involved in this study, "The detection of these waves would provide additional confirmation of Einstein's general theory of relativity, and would give astrophysicists a new way to explore the cosmos.”
Astronomers were excited to announce that not long ago they discovered a rare trio of supermassive black holes in a galaxy far, far away.
The anomaly is about 4 billion light years from here and is only the fifth such grouping known.
It’s theorized that all large galaxies have one of the big gravity pits at their center, each having a mass of anywhere between a million and 10 billion suns.
From time to time, scientists will stumble along black hole pairs, a phenomenon that’s believed to occur when galaxies merge.
When the area between the two is particularly tight they’re said offer unique and exciting research opportunities that could result in a better understanding of the formation of the universe.
The new black hole trio offers such an opportunity, as two of the three travel in close proximity to one another. Close in this case, by the way, means a few thousand trillion miles.
Astronomers hope to detect the immense and fast gravitational waves likely being emitted by the duo.
Said a scientist not involved in this study, "The detection of these waves would provide additional confirmation of Einstein's general theory of relativity, and would give astrophysicists a new way to explore the cosmos.”