Existence Of Orbiting Supermassive Black Holes Confirmed

Research on Interaction Between Black Holes

Astronomers at The University of New Mexico have informed that for the first time they have accomplished observing and measuring the orbital motion between two supermassive black holes hundreds of millions of light years from Earth, a discovery said to be more than a decade in the creation. Krishma Bansal, graduate student of UNM Department of Physics & Astronomy is said to be the first-author on the paper `Constraining the Orbit of the Supermassive Black Hole Binary 0402 +379’ published recently in The Astrophysical Journal.

 Bansal together with UNM Professor Greg Taylor and colleagues at Stanford, the U.S. Naval Observatory and the Gemini Observatory had been researching on the interaction between these black holes for 12 years. Taylor had informed that for a long time they had been looking in space to attempt and find a pair of these supermassive black holes orbiting as a result of two galaxies reunion.

Though they conceived that this should be happening, no one had seen it till now. An international team of researchers in early 2016, comprising of a UNM former student working on LIGO project had identified the presence of gravitational waves endorsing the 100-year-old prediction of Albert Einstein, surprising the scientific community.

The Very Long Baseline Array - VLBA

These gravitational waves had been the consequence of two stellar mass black holes bumping in space within the Hubble time and due to the latest research, the scientists are now in a position of beginning to comprehend what leads up to the merger of supermassive black holes that tends to create ripples in the fabric of space-time.

 They have begun to learn regarding the evolution of galaxies together with the role these black holes tend to play in it. Researchers have been able to observe several frequencies of radio signals emitted by these supermassive black holes – SMBH by utilising the Very Long Baseline Array – VLBA, which is a system made up of 10 radio telescopes all over the U.S. and operated in Socorro, N.M. The astronomers, over a period of time had been capable of planning their course and confirm them as visual binary system.

It meant that they observed these black holes in orbit with one another. Bansal had informed that when Dr Taylor had handed over the data, he had been at the beginning of learning how to image and understand the same. As he learned there was data going back to 2003 and they planned it, determining they were orbiting one another and the same was thrilling.

An Unbelievable Achievement

The discovery for Taylor was the outcome of over 20 years of work with an unbelievable achievement considering the accuracy needed to pull off these measurements. At approximately 750 million light years from Earth, the galaxy called 0402+379 together with the supermassive black holes in it, were exceedingly isolated though were also at the precise distance from Earth and from each other to be observed.

Bansal has informed that these supermassive black holes tend to have a blend of mass of 15 billion times that of the sun or 15 billion solar masses. The incredible size of these black holes means that their orbital period is about 24,000 years. While the team has perceived them for a decade they have still to look out for the slimmest curvature in their orbit.

Roger W. Romani, professor of physics at Stanford University as well as the member of the research team had informed that if one imagines a snail on the recently discovered Earth-like planet orbiting Prixima Centauri – 4,243 light years away, moving at 1 cm per second, it is the lanky motion they are determining here.

Binary Stars Offer Incredible Insights

Taylor had commented that what they have been able in doing is a true chemical achievement over the 12-year period utilising the VLBA in achieving adequate resolution and accuracy in the astrometry to really see the orbit happening, has been a bit of victory in technology to have been able to do so. Though the technical accomplishment of this finding has been really remarkable, Bansal and Taylor have stated that the research could also teach them a lot more regarding the universe where galaxies come from and when they go.

An astronomer with the U.S. Naval Observatory, Bob Zavala stated that the orbits of binary stars offer incredible insights regarding stars and now we will be in a position of using same techniques in understanding supermassive black holes as well as the galaxies they tend to reside in. On-going observation of the orbit and interaction of these two supermassive black holes could be helpful in obtaining an improved understanding of what the future of our galaxy could look like.

 Presently the Andromeda galaxy that has a SMBH also at its core is said to be on a path to run into with our Milky Way. Bansal has informed that the research team would be taking another observation of the system in three or four years and confirm the motion and gain an accurate orbit. The team in the meantime, anticipates that the discovery would encourage related work from the other astronomers across the globe.