Astronomers capture two supermassive black holes in binary orbit

Image of Two Black Holes Orbiting Each Other (Image: University of Turku/J.L. Gomez)

Astronomers have released the first-ever image of two supermassive black holes participating in a binary dance in the quasar OJ287, located approximately 5 billion light-years away in the constellation Cancer.

This image contributes direct evidence for binary black holes, lending support to theoretical expectations these combinations existed.

An Elusive Binary Dance

The image was produced by high-resolution radio telescopes of a pair of supermassive black holes orbiting together in the extremely bright quasar OJ287. Quasars are extremely bright areas at the center of galaxies, powered ultimately by materials (gas and dust) being sucked into supermassive black holes. The motion of the black holes in this case can be detected from the effect that they have on the accretion of materials around them.

The Importance of Technology

It is thought that there is a population of binary black holes in the universe, and until this point, imaging has not been successful or produced tabulated results. In total, observing double black holes will allow scientists to better understand how galaxies form. The evolution of the black holes as well as potential behaviour of matter moving through gravitational forces will also be studied.

Consequences in Astrophysics

The image have binary black holes that allow researchers to deeply study how these colossal objects interact with one another—where this discovery opens potential to increase understanding of gravitational waves, black hole mergers and some cosmic building block processes.

The next step will be to measure the black holes of OJ287's orbital dynamics through time. This provides a new perspective on the life cycle of a galaxy and what occurs in rapidly extreme environments near supermassive black holes.