Galaxies merge, and when they do, the black holes at their centers often merge, too. At least, that’s what we’ve always believed. According to new observations and data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array , dual black holes may be dining near each other in a nearby galaxy merger.
The supermassive black holes are believed to be growing simultaneously near the center of the newly connected galaxy. These hungry giants are closer than any other binary black holes that scientists have observed, with just 750 light-years between them. Further, the observations gathered here may suggest that binary black holes are more common than we thought.. They were also presented in a press conference at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, Washington.
In the past, I’ve reported on black hole mergers and how scientists have observed them. But, seeing these dual black holes dining on the remnants of the galactic merger side by side is something new entirely. This isn’t the first time that black holes have left scientists scratching their heads, either.