The hunt for a mutable supermassive black hole

The hunt for a mutable supermassive black hole

Most often, black holes are in a stable position, located in the galactic centers. But information from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that there may be an exception to the rules.

At gunpoint is an object whose weight reaches 160 million solar. Located in 3.9 billion light years from us. For scientists, such formations are of interest because they allow us to learn new information about the behavior of black holes.

It could form when two or more supermassive black holes merge. In such a scenario, the collision generates waves of gravity, which are radiated in one direction more actively than in the other. Another blow, but from the opposite side pushes a hole out of the galactic center, as can be seen in the artistic illustration.

Impact force is based on the direction in which the holes rotate, and their speeds. Therefore, these parameters can be calculated by studying the “bounced off” black hole. For surveillance, the Chandra telescope, which captured the X-rays of a hole, was used. Then the Hubble Space Telescope detected two peaks, meaning the presence of two objects or the fact that the bounced black hole “escaped” from the central region. In the process of searching, scientists stumbled upon an excellent candidate. On the left of the inset, you see the Hubble data (two bright points near the galactic center). One of them is located in the center, and the second is distant by 3000 light years. The second is a supermassive black hole. Its position coincides with the place of detection of the source of X-rays, found by the Chandra telescope (on the right in the inset). Summing up the conclusions, it became clear that the speed of an increasing black hole that is offset from the center is different from the galactic one. That is, we have an unstable supermassive black hole.

In addition, disturbances in the external structure of the galaxy are also noticeable. This may hint at a recent merger with another galaxy. Such information supports the idea of ​​a rebound hole, since when merging galaxies, black holes also merge.

There is another explanation. Two supermassive black holes are in the central galactic part, but one of them simply does not produce detectable radiation, because the growth process is too slow. To confirm this theory, you need to collect more information.

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