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| A Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy MCG-03-34-064 revealed three distinct bright spots embedded in a white ellipse at the galaxy's center (expanded in an inset image). - NASA/ESA/Anna Trindade Falcão (STScI) |
NASA telescopes have spotted the closest known pair of supermassive black holes to date. This duo, separated by just 300 light-years, was captured through different wavelengths of light, using the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
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Although black holes are invisible in space, these two shine brightly because the gas and dust they consume heat up and emit light. Both are classified as active galactic nuclei, meaning they release powerful jets of material and high-energy winds, which play a role in shaping the galaxies they inhabit.
This pair is the nearest black hole duo found through both visible and X-ray light. Previously observed black hole pairs were typically much farther apart. The discovery occurred within a pair of merging galaxies, named MCG-03-34-64, located 800 million light-years away from Earth.
The discovery happened by chance when Hubble’s images revealed three bright spikes of light amidst the gas in the galaxy. The findings were published in *The Astrophysical Journal*.
“We weren’t expecting to find this,” said the study's lead author, Anna Trindade Falcão, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Such occurrences are rare in the nearby universe, suggesting something unusual is happening within the galaxy.”
Investigating Bright Cosmic Lights
The team’s curiosity was piqued when Hubble detected three optical diffraction spikes in a concentrated part of the MCG-03-34-64 galaxy. Diffraction spikes occur when light bends around a telescope’s mirror from a small region of space. These observations were made in optical light, which is visible to the human eye, but the team initially struggled to interpret the data.
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To gain more insight, Falcão’s team turned to Chandra’s X-ray capabilities and revisited the region in question. They found two powerful X-ray sources matching Hubble’s optical light sources.
"We combined these pieces and concluded we were likely seeing two closely situated supermassive black holes," Falcão explained.
The team also examined historical radio wave data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, located in New Mexico, and discovered that the black hole duo emitted strong radio waves.
"When you observe bright light across optical, X-ray, and radio wavelengths, many other explanations are ruled out. This strongly indicates the presence of close supermassive black holes. All the evidence points to this conclusion," said Falcão.
The third diffraction spike observed by Hubble remains a mystery, and further data is needed to understand its origin. It’s possible that this light source originates from gas that was shocked by a high-energy event from one of the black holes.
“Hubble’s resolution is extraordinary, and it allows us to capture these intricate details,” Falcão added.
While astronomers have previously found black hole pairs even closer than this one, they were only observed in radio wavelengths. This duo, however, has been seen in multiple wavelengths.
Each black hole once resided at the center of its own galaxy, but their galaxies merged, pulling the two black holes closer. Eventually, the pair will spiral together and merge in about 100 million years, triggering a massive release of gravitational waves – ripples in space and time.
NASA suggests that such gravitational waves, produced by merging supermassive black holes, could be detectable by future missions like LISA, the European Space Agency’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, scheduled to launch in the mid-2030s.