Published 15:33 IST, December 14th 2020
NASA shares pics of supermassive black holes merging, netizens say 'absolutely stunning'
While taking to Instagram, NASA said that Galaxy NGC 6240 contains two supermassive black holes that are believed to have started merging some 30mn years ago.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory recently shared images of two supermassive black holes in process of merging together. While taking to Instagram, the US space agency said that Galaxy NGC 6240 contains two black holes that are believed to have started merging some 30 million years ago. This image of NGC 6240 contains new X-ray data from Chandra - shown in red, orange, and yellow - that has been combined with an optical image from the Hubble Space Telescope originally released in 2008, the US space agency said.
In the caption, NASA’s observatory said that the two “bright dots” near the centre of the image are just 3,000 light-years apart. Eventually, the two black holes will drift together, forming a larger black hole millions of years from now. According to an official blog post, scientists think that these black holes are in such close proximity because they are in the midst of spiralling toward each other.
It is also thought that pairs of massive black holes can explain some of the unusual behaviour seen by rapidly growing supermassive black holes, such as the distortion and bending seen in the powerful jets they produce. Further, the pairs of massive black holes in the process of merging are expected to be the most powerful source of gravitational waves in the Universe, NASA said. In the blog, the US space agency wrote, “The formation of multiple systems of supermassive black holes should be common in the Universe since many galaxies undergo collisions and mergers with other galaxies, most of which contain supermassive black holes”.
Netizens call it ‘phenomenal’
Since being shared, the post has accumulated over 25,000 likes and garnered several comments from internet users. While one user called the images “truly amazing,” another user simply wrote, “So divine”. “One user jokingly wrote, “Then future humans will be able to hear the 'boop' that comes out from the merger”. Another added, “Omg.. everything happens in the universe out there s pretty much way beyond human brains can process those time lapses”. “So pretty AND awesome,” added fourth.
Updated 15:32 IST, December 14th 2020