“We don’t expect most supermassive black holes to move; they are usually content to sit, “Pesce said in a statement. Realizing that, in this case, the “bowling ball” is several million times the mass of our Sun. This will require a fairly powerful kick. “
Pesce said in an email that the study’s findings are significant in two ways.
“On a superficial level, these findings are significant for adding a data point to our currently almost empty list of known mobile supermassive black holes,” he said. “Looking at a slightly bigger image, these mobiles [black holes] they are evidence of the supermassive growth of the black hole in action. A supermassive black hole moving with respect to its host galaxy is a strong indication that the system is either about to experience a supermassive binary fusion of the black hole or has done so recently. “
In either scenario, the move provides “exciting indirect evidence of reality” of supermassive black hole mergers, he said.
The black hole in the center of this study is in a galaxy called J0437 + 2456, 230 million light-years from Earth. The mass of the black hole is three million times that of the sun.
The researchers observed supermassive black holes in the center of 10 galaxies and tried to discern their speeds. In doing so, they found that one of the 10 black holes appeared to be moving.
“The fact that it looks like we discovered a mobile supermassive black hole in such a small sample, especially when compiled with the fact that there are previous searches that combed orders of magnitude with more objects and appeared empty-handed, implies that after all, it may not be so rare, ”he wrote.
Pesce quickly realized that he is not the first person to suggest that black holes can be moved. He said it is an idea that scientists have been considering for years.
The study was developed in two stages, Pesce said. First, the researchers identified which galaxies could be potential candidates for having a supermassive black hole moving in their centers. At this stage, J0437 + 2456 was identified as a particularly promising candidate. From here, “dedicated follow-up observations of J0437 + 2456 were followed with the Arecibo and Gemini North telescopes, both to improve the accuracy of the initial measurement and to ensure that we were not fooled by particular systematic effects of any a measure class, ”Pesce wrote.
Black holes are objects in space with such a strong gravitational pull that nothing can escape, according to NASA.
Charlie McKenna can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ charliemckenna9.