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Markarian 501

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Cosmic duet: twin supermassive black holes near collision could send Earth-detectable waves within a century
space1 month ago

Cosmic duet: twin supermassive black holes near collision could send Earth-detectable waves within a century

Decades of radio observations reveal that the blazar Markarian 501 hosts two supermassive black holes in a tight binary, each hundreds of millions to billions of solar masses, orbiting about every 121 days at a separation of roughly 250–540 AU. The pair is expected to merge within less than 100 years, producing powerful gravitational waves that could be detected on Earth and offering new insights into extreme black-hole mergers.

via Live Science|
#astronomy#black-holes#blazar
Twin supermassive black holes in Markarian 501 head toward a century-scale collision
science1 month ago

Twin supermassive black holes in Markarian 501 head toward a century-scale collision

Astronomers have spotted two supermassive black holes at the center of the distant galaxy Markarian 501, each powering its own jet and orbiting roughly every 121 days with a separation of about 250–540 AU. The system’s light-bending Einstein ring supports the binary interpretation. If they merge, the resulting gravitational waves would dwarf those from stellar-mass mergers, leaving a single remnant black hole; the collision could occur in as little as 100 years.

via BBC Science Focus Magazine|
#astronomy#black-holes#gravitational-waves