Astronomers Capture Potential First Image of Binary Black hole System
Turku,Finland – An international team of astronomers,lead by Mauri Valtonen of the University of Turku,has announced a potentially groundbreaking finding: the first image of two black holes orbiting each other as a binary system. The findings, published this Thursday in the Astrophysical Journal, were captured using data from the Russian RadioAstron satellite.
Located approximately 5 billion light years from earth, the black hole pair completes one orbit every 12 years. The larger black hole boasts a mass 18 billion times that of our Sun, while its companion exhibits a distinctive jet of particles oscillating at near-light speed, likened to “a dog wagging its tail” by researchers.
The system resides at the heart of a quasar known as OJ287. Quasars are exceptionally luminous galactic nuclei powered by supermassive black holes consuming surrounding gas and dust. Scientists infer the presence of black holes through these high-energy phenomena, as the entities themselves are unachievable to observe directly.
“For the first time, we managed to obtain an image of two black holes surrounding each other,” stated valtonen, emphasizing the meaning of the achievement.
However, the team cautions that the observed signals could be superimposed, leaving open the possibility of a single black hole. further verification will require a similar resolution to that achieved by RadioAstron in future observations, specifically to confirm the “tail movement” of the secondary black hole.
Further exploration of black holes is available in a related article from Cubadebate: “What happens if we enter a black hole?” (http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2017/06/11/que-pasa-si-entramos-en-un-agujero-negro/).
