Binary Black Holes Toss Gas Cloud
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Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Video imagery:
- Artist’s concept of orbiting black holes in a cloud of gas: NASA/Aurore Simonnet (Sonoma State University)
- Animation of orbiting black holes in a cloud of gas: F. Goicovic et al.
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Various pictures of planets, galaxies, nebulae, and stars are shown. Text: News from the Universe.
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NOVEMBER 22, 2024. BLACK HOLES TOSS GAS CLOUD. Artist's concept.
A green gas cloud swirls around two black holes.
Text: For the first time, scientists have discovered a pair of monster black holes tearing apart a cloud of gas in the center of a galaxy.
As the black holes (shown in white) orbit each other, they eject some gas from the cloud, creating an oscillating pattern picked up by telescopes. Side animation.
Two black holes shown in white rotate around each other and create a red gas.
Text: NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory detected the pattern in ultraviolet and X-ray light, and the Zwicky Transient Facility saw the same in visible light.
Scientists say that the galaxy containing the black holes is currently merging with another galaxy.
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The black holes will gradually speed up and move closer together until they merge in about 70,000 years.
In the animation, the black holes continue to rotate around each other and emit red gas.
Text: This news was brought to you in part by: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.