Astrophysicists Discover Unprecedented Brightness in Binary Black Hole System.

Astronomers have discovered a second supermassive black hole in the heart of a distant galaxy, OJ 287, located around 5 billion light-years away. The second black hole has a mass of about 150 million suns and orbits a black hole equivalent to over 18 billion suns. Both black holes are feeding on gas and dust, and the second black hole has a peculiar oblong orbit that sends it plunging through a massive disk of red-hot dust and gas around its companion. The researchers were able to model the flattened, oblong orbit of the second black hole and the timing of the accretion-disk flares it creates. The confirmation of a binary black hole pairing makes the system an ideal candidate for the detection of gravitational waves.