The black hole 3 million times heavier than the Sun in the galaxy J0437 + 2456 could be the result of a merger or a binary system of black holes.
Scientists have long believed that supermassive black holes can travel through space, but recording this spectacle is difficult. The Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics team has identified the clearest mobile supermassive black hole to date. The research results were published in the journal Astrophysical on March 12.
“We think most supermassive black holes don’t move. They’re so heavy it’s very difficult,” said Dominic Pesce, an astronomer at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who led the study. Moving these objects millions of times heavier than the Sun requires a huge impact.
Pesce and his colleagues have worked to find moving supermassive black holes by comparing their speeds to those of galaxies over the past five years. “We ask the question: is the speed of the black hole equal to the speed of the galaxy that contains them? Otherwise, this black hole has suffered some kind of impact,” he explained.
The team tracked 10 distant galaxies and supermassive black holes in the central region. They target water-filled objects inside the accretion disk – spiral structures around the black hole. As it moves around the black hole, the water produces a laser-like beam of radio light called a maser. Scientists can measure the speed of a black hole with great precision using a maser and a radio antenna system.
The team of experts has identified that nine out of ten supermassive black holes are “at rest,” a single, distinct black hole that appears to be moving. It has a mass of about 3 million times that of the Sun and is located 230 million light years from Earth, at the center of the galaxy J0437 + 2456. Astronomers confirm this with images from the Arecibo Observatory and Gemini. They also said the black hole was moving at around 177,000 km / h inside the galaxy J0437 + 2456.
However, scientists are not sure what caused this black hole to move. They offer two possibilities. First, it is the result of the collision and fusion of two black holes. A merger could push back a new black hole. Moreover, this black hole is also likely to belong to a rare double black hole system. Its “companion” has not been discovered, possibly because it does not emit maser rays.
