NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed the closest confirmed pair of supermassive black holes ever observed. These black holes are situated within a pair of merging galaxies, approximately 300 light-years apart and are powered by infalling gas and dust.
This phenomenon causes them to shine brightly as active galactic nuclei (AGN). The pair was found in the galaxy MCG-03-34-64, located about 800 million light-years away.
Also Read: Elon Musk Says SpaceX will Start Launching Starships to Mars in 2026
This newly discovered pair of supermassive black holes is approximately 300 light-years apart, making it the closest pair ever detected using multiwavelength observations.
While several dual black holes have been identified in the past, most had much larger separations. The proximity of these black holes, buried deep within the merging galaxy and it is a result of two galaxies colliding and bringing their central black holes into close contact.
The black hole pair was detected using two of NASA’s premier observatories, the Hubble Space Telescope (visible light) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory (X-ray light).
Hubble’s imaging revealed three distinct bright spots at the center of the galaxy, two of which were later confirmed as supermassive black holes based on strong X-ray emissions detected by Chandra.
AGN binaries, like the one observed in MCG-03-34-64 were likely more common in the early universe when galaxy mergers were frequent.
The discovery of this nearby example provides scientists with a rare opportunity to study such binaries in detail.
The discovery of this AGN pair was unexpected. The Hubble Space Telescope’s sharp imaging revealed three optical diffraction spikes, a large concentration of glowing oxygen gas in a very small area.
Diffraction spikes are artifacts that occur when light from a small region in space bends around a telescope’s mirror.
Following the optical observations from Hubble, the team used Chandra’s X-ray capabilities to examine the galaxy MCG-03-34-64 in more detail.
Chandra confirmed that the two separated bright spots seen in optical light were powerful sources of high-energy X-ray emissions, a hallmark of active black holes converting infalling matter into energy.
Archival radio data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico were analyzed. The black hole pair also emits powerful radio waves, adding another layer of confirmation to the conclusion that these bright spots are, indeed, closely spaced supermassive black holes.
A third bright spot was detected alongside the two black holes, but its origin remains unknown. Scientists speculate that this third spot could be gas shocked by the energy from one of the black hole jets. A deeper analysis and more data are needed to confirm this theory.
One of the black holes is believed to be ejecting a jet of ultra-high-speed plasma, similar to a stream of water blasting into a pile of sand. This jet is visible as a blue streak in Hubble’s images and it is likely responsible for some of the energetic phenomena observed around the black hole.
Also Read: Saturn’s Rings to Disappear in 2025, The Celestial Phenomenon
Over time, these black holes will continue to spiral closer together, eventually merging in about 100 million years. This cosmic event will generate powerful gravitational waves that ripple across the universe.
When the two supermassive black holes finally collide, the event will release gravitational waves. These waves distort the fabric of space and time itself.
While current instruments like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) can detect gravitational waves from stellar-mass black hole mergers, the longer wavelengths produced by supermassive black hole mergers are beyond LIGO’s capabilities.
The next-generation gravitational wave detector, LISA, will be designed to capture these longer wavelength gravitational waves from space.
LISA will consist of three detectors in space, separated by millions of miles and is set to launch in the mid-2030s as a collaborative mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with NASA.
Black holes are regions of spacetime with gravitational pulls so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from them.
Typically, the mass of a black hole is about 0.1% of the stellar mass of its host galaxy. However, some black holes defy this norm exhibiting masses nearly equivalent to their entire host galaxy. These are known as overmassive black holes.
Overmassive black holes present a deviation from conventional models. They are found in galaxies that are much smaller than expected. Despite their massive sizes, these black holes do not emit detectable X-rays, even in the most sensitive observations.
The existence of such black holes might not be a problem but rather a clue to the formation of the universe’s first black holes. Models suggest that if the first black holes formed with masses around 100,000 times that of the Sun, their high mass-to-galaxy ratio could persist for extended periods.
To uncover the true nature of these overmassive black holes, astronomers are employing advanced observational tools such as the James Webb Space Telescope and high-energy X-ray observatories.
These tools are essential for detecting possible emissions or other indirect signs of black holes such as infrared light or radio waves.
Also Read: Earthquakes Can Trigger the Formation of Gold Nuggets in Quartz
