Thanks to evidence from a #quasar, scientists believe two massive #blackholes in a #galaxy are orbiting each other at a distance closer than ever seen, and it is likely that they will collide--in about 100,000 years. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/18/pair-black-holes-spiral123/

Two massive black holes are orbiting each other at a distance closer than scientists have ever seen, and it is likely that they will collide–in about 100,000 years.

Rhythmic Quasars

A team of astronomers at Columbia University led by Daniel D’Orazio recently published a study on the black hole duo in the journal Nature. They’ve been measuring the light from the quasar associated with the area, which has helped them to establish the relative distance and activity of the black holes.

A quasar is the term given to the flickering light sources that emanate from black holes as they burn through surrounding gas and dust. This particular quasar is called PG 1302-102, and last winter, it was determined to derive from not one, but two black holes that are rotating around one another. This discovery was the result of analyzing a rhythmic feature of the quasar’s light: once every five years, its light grows brighter by fourteen percent.

The Columbia team created models of the quasars and estimated that the black holes are about 200 billion miles apart from each other, which turns out, is extremely close in cosmic terms. 200 billion miles is not even a tenth of a light-year. Their orbit is around 3.5 billion light years away from Earth.

Their models also suggest that the black holes are moving in an orbit that spirals, rather than one that rotates evenly. The spiral appears to be bringing them closer and closer to one another, on course for collision in about 100,000 years, depending on their relative masses.

A New Theory of Gravitational Relativity?

The spiral is what’s peculiar about this particular pair of black holes. It is relatively common for black holes to orbit one another when galaxies merge, given that every galaxy “of note” contains a supermassive black hole. In order for quasars to behave in the way that PG 1302-102 is behaving, there would have to be “hundreds of millions of solar masses” accompanying the black holes and exerting gravitational forces that act on the orbits.

Further analysis of PG 1302-102 could provide insight for astrophysicists not just into these two specific black holes, but into the theories of gravity and relativity in general. As D’Orazio said, “The detection of gravitational waves lets us probe the secrets of gravity and test Einstein’s theory in the most extreme environment in our universe…Getting there is a holy grail of our field.”

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DID SOMEONE SAY BLACK HOLES?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdcU4nKKV2E

Pair of Black Holes is Stuck in a Death Spiral

Scientists recently uncovered a #space wonder: a #blackhole - wait, make that two - located in a #quasar. - http://clapway.com/2015/08/31/double-black-hole-quasar123/

Quasars are the most energetic members of a compact region at the center of a galaxy known as active galactic nucleus (AGN). They are considered to be among the brightest objects in the known universe, comprised of superheated regions of gas and dust that surround black holes. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, researchers were recently able to spot a unique quasar, boasting a double black hole, located in the closest galaxy to Earth. The two massive celestial bodies were found “furiously whirling” around each other, producing the incredible amount of energy need to power the quasar, according to a report by Popular Science.

THE SCIENCE OF THE QUASAR AND BINARY BLACK HOLES

The “black-hole duo” or double black hole was discovered in the Markarian 231 (Mrk 231) galaxy by a group of astronomers in a project led by the University of Oklahoma. The rare discovery was made after scientists examined archived ultraviolet radiation observational data emitted from the center of Mrk 231, located 581 million light-years away from our Earth.

But this quasar is not a typical one, leading scientists to describe its properties as ‘extreme and surprising.” According to Daily Mail, the ultraviolet glow of the accretion disk was seen “abruptly dropping off towards the center,” rather than glowing as a whole, which is the case for single black holes.

This observation led scientists to conclude that the disk is carved out by two black holes orbiting each other. According to Youjun Lu of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the finding is extremely exciting as it “paves a new way to systematically search binary black holes via the nature of their ultraviolet light emission.”

The structure of our universe, such as those giant galaxies and clusters of galaxies, grows by merging smaller systems into larger ones, and binary black holes are natural consequences of these mergers of galaxies,’ added co-investigator Xinyu Dai from the University of Oklahoma.

According to Insight Ticker, the bigger black hole is an estimated 150 million times heavier than our own sun, and its smaller counterpart – believed to be the remnant of another galaxy – weights 4 million solar masses.. The binary black holes are predicted to orbit around each other every 1.2 years; on the other hand, the merging process, which eventually causes the larger hole to swallow the smaller one, takes hundreds of thousands of years. The resulting combination creates a ”firestorm of star birth”, producing stars at a rate that is 100 times greater than that of our own Milky Way – a phenomenon researchers refer to as a “firestorm of star birth.”

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Binary Black Holes In Quasar Astound Astronomers

Earlier this week, researchers have discovered two binary #blackholes in #Markarian231, the #quasar nearest Earth. - http://clapway.com/2015/08/29/twin-supermassive-black-holes-110/

Earlier this week, researchers have discovered two binary black holes in Markarian 231, the quasar nearest Earth. A quasar is an active galaxy with an illuminated center, which is short lived compared to the age of the universe. The existence of these was predicted through a study made by Drs. Chang-Shuo Yan, Youjun Lu, Xingyu Dai and Quingjuan Yu, by observing ultraviolet radiation emitted through the Hubble telescope, developing a model to fit that spectrum and then applying it.

WHY ARE BINARY BLACK HOLES FASCINATING?

Great effort has been made during the past several decades to search for BBHs among quasars; however, observational evidence for BBHs remains elusive and ambiguous, which is difficult to reconcile with theoretical expectations, and this is why this study is so ground-breaking. It gives us new insight in what these light shows mean and what kind of objects orbit around it.

CHINESE EBULLINET ABOUT SUPERMASSIVE DUO

“We are extremely excited about this finding because it not only shows the existence of a close binary black hole in Mrk 231, but also paves a new way to systematically search binary black holes via the nature of their ultraviolet light emission,” Lu, National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, declared in the news release pertaining to the discovery. Dai goes on to say that “The structure of our universe, such as those giant galaxies and clusters of galaxies, grows by merging smaller systems into larger ones, and binary black holes are natural consequences of these mergers of galaxies.”

PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS

What does this existence of these binary black holes mean to Earth? For now, not much. Throughout interviews and press releases, the team of astrophysicists announced that the two binary black holes will eventually merge into a quasar with one supermassive black hole sorely outclassing the earlier two, which would cause a brilliant outburst of light, illuminating objects still left to be identified. Regardless of what the future will bring, this study certainly reveals some of the keys to the evolution of these young galaxies.

A complete report of the results of this study were published in the August 14th edition of the Astrophysical Journal.

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BLACK HOLES MAY BIND THE UNIVERSE, BUT WHAT WILL SAVE YOUR FRAYED CABLES?

Astrophysicists Spot Twin Supermassive Black Holes