Supermassive Black Hole Binary Spotted 9 Billion Light-Years Away

A supermassive black hole located 9 billion light-years distant seems to be orbited by a partner black hole. The orbit diminishes, bringing the duo closer to combining.

At the center of most galaxies, you can find supermassive black holes billions of magnitudes the mass of our Sun, and scientists are curious about how these behemoths formed. Although scientists believe the majority came from at least one fusion of two smaller supermassive black holes, they lacked the necessary evidence since just one duo of supermassive black holes on the verge of merging had been discovered.

A recent research might alter all of that: Scientists investigating a supermassive black hole have discovered evidence that it is orbited by a partner. The massive pair — dubbed a binary – orbits each other almost every two years. If the analysis is accurate, the binary’s orbit is 10 to 100 times narrower than the diameter of the single similar recorded supermassive binary, and the duo will combine in around 10,000 years.

Radio telescope measurements on Earth provide data that this supermassive black hole has a partner. While black holes do not generate light, their gravity may attract disks of hot gas and release part of it into space. These jets are capable of reaching distances of millions of light-years. A jet aimed towards Earth seems much brighter than a jet aimed away from the planet. Astronomers refer to supermassive black holes possessing jets pointed toward Earth as blazars, and this latest research focuses on a blazar designated PKS 2131-021.

This effort exemplifies the value of endurance, as Lazio says. This finding was obtained after 45 years of radio measurements. To make this feasible, small crews at several observatories around the nation collected data week after week, month after month.