A Naked Black Hole Is Screaming Through the Universe

gizmodo ^ | Maddie Stone

[BenLurkin]

Millions of years ago, B3 1715+425 was just an ordinary supermassive black hole. It had a comfortable life, of devouring stars and belching deadly x-rays, at the center of its distant galaxy. Now, starless and alone, it’s screaming through space at 2,000 miles per second—and it may never stop.

BC 1715+425's troubles began when its galaxy bumped up against another. This isn’t all that unusual: in fact, astronomers believe that the largest galaxies in our universe formed during ancient mergers. Normally, when two galaxies collide, the supermassive black holes at their centers start to orbit one another, moving closer and closer together in an inescapable gravitational attraction.

Eventually, those black holes can fuse, releasing a burst of energy as gravitational waves and completing the cosmic joining.

Most of the time, this process seems to work out for all parties involved, judging from the fact that nearly all supermassive black holes reside at the center of galaxies, and nearly all galactic centers contain a supermassive black hole. But every now and then, something goes wrong and cosmic wreckage ensues. B3 1715+425, speeding away from the core of a bloated galactic merger 2 billion light years from Earth, is living proof of this.

[BenLurkin]