[ad_1]
Out there, somewhere in the cosmos, there could be a through black hole that is no longer at the center of its galaxy. In a review published by the American Astronomical Society, scientists noted that the supermassive black hole that is believed to be the center of Abell 2261 may no longer be there. Instead, scientists say it could have been pulled out of its own galaxy due to a process known as gravitational wave recoil.
During recoil, two black holes close to each other essentially merge, sending ripples into space. In theory, these ripples could push the black hole away from its current location, according to a report filed by Forbes. “That’s enough to drive the black hole out of the galaxy completely and be long gone. It would be a cruise in intergalactic space, ”Kayhan Gultekin, the newspaper’s senior astronomer, told the magazine.
In the article, the editors of the original journal make sure to point out that it could technically still be in its current location; it’s just that they are unable to locate it now after being able to locate it on previous occasions.
“Still, Gultekin says it’s too early to conclude that there is no supermassive black hole in the A2261-BCG,” Forbes adds. “But if it’s not there, it would be the only large galaxy yet discovered without such a massive black hole at its center. Even the supermassive black hole in our own Milky Way is relatively quiet, but it’s there.”
In an interview with Vice Last summer, Gultekin admitted that there is still a lot to be learned about black holes and that solving this mystery could go a long way to answering some of the biggest unanswered questions.
“What excites me the most is learning about supermassive black holes through gravitational waves,” Gultekin said. “We have to know for sure that they are merging and that would be one way of showing that this is happening.”
“There are all kinds of things you can learn with gravitational waves on supermassive black holes, as a population or as individual sources, that you are either really difficult or impossible to learn with traditional electromagnetic astronomy,” he said. he added.
Cover photo by Photo12 / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
[ad_2]
Source link