Clash of the Titans. 3 giant black holes in a collision course
Usually we read or watch news about a massive black hole that devoured a star, crushed it, and crushed it, before devouring it, and at other times we read about black holes that went beyond hibernation, and began to devour everything that surrounds it.
But what happens if black holes collide? In fact, this has never happened or at least we have never heard of it, but the result, although not yet known, refers to a hellish clash or a "clash of titans" for sure.
NASA astronomers, with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other space telescopes, have detected three very large black holes that are heading for a massive collision.
The extraordinary system, known as "SDSS J084905.51 + 111447.2", is about a billion light-years from Earth, astronomers said.
"We were just looking for pairs of black holes at the time, however, with our selection technique, we found a new technology," said professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, one of the authors of the study, published in the Journal of Astrophysics. This amazing system. "
"This is the strongest evidence yet to exist for such a triple system of supermassive active black holes," he said.
To detect the rare trio of massive black holes, the researchers first collected data from three telescopes on Earth and in space, then the team examined the data collected from these sources.
"Through the use of these major astronomical observatories, we have identified a new method for identifying supermassive black holes," Fyvel said, noting that each telescope "gives us a different idea of what is happening in these systems. We hope to expand our work to detect more triplets using the same technology." .
The distance between each black hole and its nearest neighbor is between 10,000 and 30,000 light-years away, they said, noting that these distances will shrink because black holes appear to merge or collide, just as the original galaxies do.
"Optical spectra contain a wealth of information about the galaxy," said Christina Manzano King, a professor at the University of California at Riverside. "They are commonly used to identify accumulated black holes effectively and can reflect their impact on the galaxies they are in."
"Double and triple black holes are very rare, but such systems are actually a natural consequence of galaxy fusion, which we believe leads to the growth and development of galaxies," said Shubeta Satyapal, a professor at George Mason University.
The three massive black holes are expected to react differently when they merge together compared to two black holes, NASA said.
