Out there, somewhere in the cosmos, there could be a black hole that was going through and that was no longer in the center of its galaxy. In a journal published by the American Astronomical Society, scientists have noticed 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 removed from its own galaxy due to a process known as gravitational wave retreat.
During a setback, two nearby black holes essentially melt, sending ripples through space. In theory, these ripples could pull the black hole away from its current location, according to a report submitted by Forbes. “It is enough to completely expel the black hole from the galaxy and disappear. It would be a cruise in intergalactic space, “Kayhan Gultekin, the newspaper’s chief astronomer, told the magazine.
In the piece, the editors of the initial magazine make sure to point out that technically they could still be in their current location; is that now they cannot locate him after having been able to locate him on previous occasions.
“Still, Gultekin says it’s too early to conclude that there is no supermassive black hole in the A2261-BCG,” he said. Forbes add. “But if it’s not there, it would be the only galaxy so large to have been discovered without such a massive black hole in the center. Even the supermassive black hole in our Milky Way is relatively still, but it’s there.”
In an interview with Vici last summer, Gultekin admitted that there is still much to learn about black holes, and solving this mystery could help a lot in answering some of the most important outstanding questions.
“What excites me the most is learning about supermassive black holes through gravitational waves,” Gultekin said. “We need to know for sure that they are merging and that would be a way to show that this is happening.”
“There are all sorts of things you can learn with gravitational waves over supermassive black holes, such as population or individual sources, that are really difficult or impossible to learn with traditional electromagnetic astronomy,” he added.
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