Posted on 05/28/2015 6:23:02 PM PDT by LibWhacker
In the center of most galaxies (ours included) there is a supermassive black hole that holds everything together. However, one galaxy 10.5 billion light years away looks like it might have two black holes, and just like in Highlander, there can be only one. Scientists believe the pair are going to crash into each other in just 21 years. This could provide an unprecedented opportunity to observe the mind-boggling physics of such an event.
The galaxy in question doesn’t have a snazzy name — it’s known only as PSO J334.2028+01.4075. It’s what is known as a quasar, or an “active galaxy.” These objects blast out huge amounts of light and other electromagnetic radiation as matter falls into the black hole at the center. The light emitted by most quasars flickers randomly as more or less matter gets sucked in, but if there are two black holes in the core, there is a predictable pattern to the flickering. This is what astronomers have detected in PSO J334.2028+01.4075.
Graduate student Tingting Liu from the University of Maryland spotted the anomalous galaxy using the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on Mount Haleakala in Hawaii. It was used to analyse 316 quasars to find the right type of recurring signal, and PSO J334.2028+01.4075 was the single best candidate. The black holes in the center of this galaxy are believed to be between three billion and thirty billion solar masses.
While the data points to a collision in 21 years, that’s 21 years from our perspective on Earth. Because PSO J334.2028+01.4075 is so far away, this event actually happened billions of years in the past. We’re just lucky to have found it at the right time. Theoretically, the merging of two supermassive black holes should produce a burst of gravitational waves that warp space-time.
More instruments will surely be trained on the quasar to confirm these observations and watch what happens as the black holes draw closer. If the team’s analysis of the data is correct, they should be able to accurately predict the next cycle of light coming from the quasar. That will add a lot of weight to the claims if it proves accurate.
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson?
Technically this means 10.5 billion years ago, plus 21 years, they will have crashed into each other, and we’re just seeing the results now.
Ping!.......
Trust in God and forget it. If you truly trust in God you cannot worry, its a conflict.
PS—The same SME predicting this could not accurately get the path of the east coast hurricane correct until after it was over. Nor can they accurately predict the weather further out than 5 days. So we should take their word on anything this far in the future?????
Ooh, maybe we'll go back to the 1980's and I'll get my hair back.
Great name: Tingting Lu.
Obviously another dire effect of GoreBull Warming.
Actually... it MAY have crashed together 10.5 billion minus 21 years ago.
I know I'm old and cynical.... but when I read articles like this one.... I generally don't believe any of it. I just don't.
Barry and Moochelle?
I’m aiming for 1974 so I can put everything I have into Walmart stock.
Don’t forget, The Sun is going to swell into a Red Giant, and swallow the Earth...in approximately 5 billion years!!
We’re doooooomed!
“We’re all gonna die!”
Nope. We’re all gonna die...AGAIN!
"...and just like in Highlander, there can be only one."
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