Quasars are the most energetic members of a compact region at the center of a galaxy known as active galactic nucleus (AGN). They are considered to be among the brightest objects in the known universe, comprised of superheated regions of gas and dust that surround black holes. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, researchers were recently able to spot a unique quasar, boasting double black holes, located in the closest galaxy to Earth. The two massive celestial bodies were found “furiously whirling” around each other, producing the incredible amount of energy need to power the quasar, according to a report by Popular Science.
THE SCIENCE OF THE QUASAR AND BINARY BLACK HOLES
The “black-hole duo” or double black hole was discovered in the Markarian 231 (Mrk 231) galaxy by a group of astronomers in a project led by the University of Oklahoma. The rare discovery was made after scientists examined archived ultraviolet radiation observational data emitted from the center of Mrk 231, located 581 million light-years away from our Earth.
But this quasar is not a typical one, leading scientists to describe its properties as ‘extreme and surprising.” According to Daily Mail, the ultraviolet glow of the accretion disk was seen “abruptly dropping off towards the center,” rather than glowing as a whole, which is the case for single black holes.
This observation led scientists to conclude that the disk is carved out by two black holes orbiting each other. According to Youjun Lu of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the finding is extremely exciting as it “paves a new way to systematically search binary black holes via the nature of their ultraviolet light emission.”
The structure of our universe, such as those giant galaxies and clusters of galaxies, grows by merging smaller systems into larger ones, and binary black holes are natural consequences of these mergers of galaxies,’ added co-investigator Xinyu Dai from the University of Oklahoma.
According to Insight Ticker, the bigger black hole is an estimated 150 million times heavier than our own sun, and its smaller counterpart – believed to be the remnant of another galaxy – weights 4 million solar masses.. The binary black holes are predicted to orbit around each other every 1.2 years; on the other hand, the merging process, which eventually causes the larger hole to swallow the smaller one, takes hundreds of thousands of years. The resulting combination creates a ”firestorm of star birth”, producing stars at a rate that is 100 times greater than that of our own Milky Way – a phenomenon researchers refer to as a “firestorm of star birth.”
