Sunday, October 11, 2015

Pairs of Supermassive Black Holes

A pair of supermassive black holes is produced when two galaxies collide. This occurrence produces a source of gravitational waves, which scientists have been attempting to detect using various methods. Some astronomers have even begun to observe fast-rotating pulsers to try and detect these gravitational waves.

Recently, scientists examined "X-shaped radio galaxies" to acquire data for galaxy mergers and supermassive black hole pairs. They found that less than about 1.3% of galaxies with extended radio emission have produced mergers, which is five times less than previously thought. They concluded that there are fewer pairs of supermassive black holes than previous estimates.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150921141439.htm

1 comment:

  1. 2 points. why would they examine x-shaped radio galaxies? Why are those important?

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