‘We do not expect most supermassive black holes to move; they are usually content to just sit down, ”Pesce said in a statement. “They are just so heavy that it’s hard to get them going. Think of how much harder it is to kick a bowling ball in motion than to kick a football while realizing that the ‘rolling ball’ is several million times the mass of our sun. It’s going to take quite a powerful kick. ”
Pesce said in an email that the findings of the study are important in two ways.
“At the surface level, these findings are important to add a data point to our currently almost empty list of known supermassive black holes,” he said. ‘If we look at a slightly bigger picture, this mobile is [black holes] is evidence of supermassive growth in black holes. A supermassive black hole moving in relation to its host system is a strong indication that the system is going to experience a supermassive binary hole merger, or that it was done recently. ‘
In both scenarios, the movement offers ‘exciting indirect evidence for reality’ of supermassive mergers in black holes, he said.
The black hole in the center of this study is in a galaxy called J0437 + 2456, 230 million light-years from Earth. The mass of the black hole is three million times the mass of the sun.
Researchers observed the supermassive black holes in the middle of ten galaxies and tried to distinguish their velocities. Thus, they found that one of the ten black holes appeared to be in motion.
‘The fact that we seem to have discovered a mobile, supermassive black hole in such a small sample – especially when we’re looking for previous searches that comb through more objects and arrive empty-handed – implies that they may not be so hardly, ”he wrote.
Pesce quickly notes that he is not the first person to suggest that black holes could move. He said this is an idea that scientists have been considering for years.
The study unfolded in two phases, Pesce said. First, researchers determined which galaxies could be potential candidates to move a supermassive black hole in their centers. In that phase, J0437 + 2456 was identified as a particularly promising candidate. From there, they pursued ‘dedicated follow-up observations of J0437 + 2456 with the Arecibo and Gemini North telescopes, both to improve the accuracy of the initial measurement and to ensure that we are not misled by systematic effects that are especially for any one class of measurement, ”Pesce wrote.
Black holes are objects in space with a gravitational force that is so strong that nothing can escape, according to NASA.
Charlie McKenna can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ charliemckenna9.