A duo of supermassive black holes orbiting each other at the center of a distant galaxy are heading towards a gigantic collision that will produce one of the biggest explosions in the cosmos. The black holes are circling each other in a space not much bigger than our solar system at about 7% of the speed of light. Researchers observing the pair of black holes said they are projected to crash into each other in less than a million years, creating a blast 100 million times more powerful than a supernovae. This system of binary black holes is known as PG 1302-102 and they were first discovered in January this year when scientist noticed an unusual bright spot of UV light coming from the center of a galaxy.
Scientists have now used ultraviolet light data from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorerer (Galex) and Hubble Space Telescope to track down the light configurations over the past 20 years. They detected the black holes are emitting a strange cyclic light pattern as one of them is absorbing more matter than the other black holes, heating up the neighboring matter to discharge energy. The scientists exposed that this black hole orbits the other black hole once every five years. They said they believe that by carefully observing the final moments of these black holes will help them search for gravitational waves. The 2 black holes will circle each other closer and closer to each other in a 'death spiral' just like ice skaters, creating warping space and time.
This phenomenon would help to prove theories about gravity first proposed by Albert Einstein nearly 100 years ago. Professor Zoltán Haiman, an astronomer at Columbia University in New York who directed the mission, said “We are strengthening our ideas of what's going on in this system and starting to understand it better.”
The entwined dance of the two giant black holes is also discharging a strange light signal that appears to brighten every 5 years. This is only because of the 'blue shifting' effect, in which light is clutched to smaller wavelengths as it journeys toward us in the same way that a police car's siren squeals at greater frequencies as it moves toward you.
One other purpose has to do with the colossal speed of the black hole. The brighter black hole is roving at nearly 7% the speed of light nearly 47 million miles per hour. At these speeds, which are called as relativistic, the light becomes brighter and enhanced. The study was published in journal Nature.
One other purpose has to do with the colossal speed of the black hole. The brighter black hole is roving at nearly 7% the speed of light nearly 47 million miles per hour. At these speeds, which are called as relativistic, the light becomes brighter and enhanced. The study was published in journal Nature.
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