There are two black holes that are destined to become one in the universe.
The nucleus of the galaxy consists of a pair of black holes. The previous record-holder was close to 500 million light-years away.
The two black holes are close to each other, separated by a distance of just 1,600 light-years. Astronomers believe that the two black holes will grow so close together that they will become one big monster.
The discovery gives us a close laboratory for probing the interactions between black holes as they whirl about in their pre-merger dance, as it confirms that the merger of two galaxies is the product of a product of a merger.
"It is the first time we have found two black holes that are close to each other, less than half the separation of the previous record holder," says astronomer Karina Voggel of the Strasbourg Observatory in France.
There are many reasons why black hole binaries are of interest to the astronomer. Black holes are found at the center of most galaxies.
It indicates that two galaxies have come together. We know that this process happens, and that finding a supermassive black hole can tell us what it looks like in the final stages.
It is possible to tell us something about how massive black hole objects can be. Black hole mergers are one way growth can occur. Finding black holes will help us understand if it's a common pathway for growth, which will allow for more accurate modeling.
For a while, the object of interest for a black hole was NGC 7727. The physical characteristics of the galaxy suggest that it is the product of a merger. Black holes are hard to see unless they're active. The cloud of material around the black hole is bright with radiation. The bright flow usually associated with two active black holes was not present.
Astronomers had an advantage because of the proximity of the galaxy. The researchers were able to get motion data for stars in the center of the universe because of the close proximity of the star. The center of the universe contains two black holes.
The black hole is 154 million times the mass of the Sun. The companion is only 6.3 million solar mass. The smaller black hole was found to be active. The much larger black hole is quiescent, which explains why there was so little radiation.
The researchers said that there could be more black hole binaries out there than we can currently detect.
Voggel said that the finding implies that there may be many more relics of galaxy mergers out there and they may contain hidden massive black holes.
It could increase the number of black holes by 30 percent.
The two black holes are going to collide, but it will take around 250 million years to happen. We won't be able to observe it happening, but thebinary system offers hope that there are many more black hole mergers taking place around us.
We can't detect them just yet because the waves would be too low for our current instruments. The researchers said that new instruments, such as the space-based LISA, should be able to.
The discovery could tell us how to find supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, where we can't get detailed motion data for the central stars.
"Targeting bright surviving nuclear star clusters in merged galaxies can facilitate the discovery of dual supermassive black holes at smaller separations in the Local Universe," they wrote in their paper.
"This will allow more detailed studies of these systems that will allow for blueprints of how to find them more broadly in the distant Universe."
The research has been published.
