‘Runaway’ black hole the size of 20 million suns caught speeding through space with a trail of newborn stars behind it

Published

2 years ago

April 11, 2023

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Astronomers have spotted a runaway supermassive black hole, seemingly ejected from its home galaxy and racing through space with a chain of stars trailing in its wake.

According to the team’s research, which was published April 6 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (opens in new tab) , the discovery offers the first observational evidence that supermassive black holes can be ejected from their home galaxies to roam interstellar space.

The researchers discovered the runaway black hole as a bright streak of light while they were using the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the dwarf galaxy RCP 28, located about 7.5 billion light-years from Earth.

A five-step schematic showing two black holes in a binary partnership before a third black hole intrudes, upsetting the balance at the galaxy’s center and sending one of the black holes careening into intergalactic space. Panel 6 shows the gassy trail observed in the new study. (Image credit: van Dokkum et al.)

Follow-up observations showed that the streak measures more than 200,000 light-years long — roughly twice the width of the Milky Way — and is thought to be made of compressed gas that is actively forming stars. The gas trails a black hole that is estimated to measure 20 million times the mass of the sun and is speeding away from its home galaxy at 3.5 million mph (5.6 million km/h), or roughly 4,500 times the speed of sound. This is fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in about 14 minutes, according to a NASA statement (opens in new tab) .

According to the researchers, the streak points right to the center of a galaxy, where a supermassive black hole would normally sit.

“We found a thin line in a Hubble image that is pointing to the center of a galaxy,” lead study author Pieter van Dokkum (opens in new tab) , a professor of physics and astronomy at Yale University, told Live Science. “Using the Keck telescope in Hawaii, we found that the line and the galaxy are connected. From a detailed analysis of the feature, we inferred that we are seeing a very massive black hole that was ejected from the galaxy, leaving a trail of gas and newly formed stars in its wake.”

A Hubble Space Telescope image revealing the ‘runaway black hole’ being trailed by a vast bridge of stars. Nothing like this has ever been seen in space before, NASA said. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)) Confirming the tail of an ejected black hole

Most, if not all, large galaxies host supermassive black holes at their centers. Active supermassive black holes often launch jets of material at high speeds, which can be seen as streaks of light that superficially resemble the one the researchers spotted. These are called astrophysical jets.

To determine this isn’t what they observed, van Dokkum and the team investigated this streak and found it didn’t possess any of the telltale signs of an astrophysical jet. While astrophysical jets grow weaker as they move away from their source of emission, the potential supermassive black hole tail actually gets stronger as it progresses away from what seems to be its galactic point of origin, according to the researchers. Also, astrophysical jets launched by black holes fan out from their source, whereas this trail seems to have remained linear.

The team concluded that the explanation that best fits the streak is a supermassive black hole blasting through the gas that surrounds its galaxy while compressing that gas enough to trigger star formation in its wake.

“If confirmed, it would be the first time that we have clear evidence that supermassive black holes can escape from galaxies,” van Dokkum said.Black holes on the move

Once the runaway supermassive black hole is confirmed, the next question that astronomers need to answer is how such a monstrous object gets ejected from its host galaxy.

“The most likely scenario that explains everything we’ve seen is a slingshot, caused by a three-body interaction,” van Dokkum said. “When three similar-mass bodies gravitationally interact, the interaction does not lead to a stable configuration but usually to the formation of a binary and the ejection of the third body.”Related stories—8 ways we know that black holes really do exist

—9 ideas about black holes that will blow your mind

—The 10 most massive black hole findings from 2022

This might mean that the runaway black hole was once part of a rare supermassive black hole binary, and during a galactic merger, a third supermassive black hole was introduced to this partnership, flinging out one of its occupants.

Astronomers aren’t sure how common these massive runaways are.

“Ejected supermassive black holes had been predicted for 50 years but none have been unambiguously seen,” van Dokkum said “Most theorists think that there should be many out there.”

Further observations with other telescopes are needed to find direct evidence of a black hole at the mysterious streak’s tip, van Dokkum added.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on April 10 to reflect that the study has now been published in the peer-reviewed Astrophysical Journal Letters. Several new images were also added, coutesy of a NASA news release.

Sports

Ted Williams’ 1946 MVP award sells for over $500K

Published

3 hours ago

November 17, 2024

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Ted Williams' 1946 MVP award sells for over 0K

Associated Press

Nov 17, 2024, 06:55 PM ET

A rare souvenir postcard picturing Hank Aaron as a rookie with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues sold for nearly $200,000 at a baseball memorabilia auction that also included Ted Williams’ 1946 AL MVP award, which went for $528,750.

The Aaron postcard from the scrapbook of scout Ed Scott, who discovered Aaron, went for $199,750 following a bidding war that soared past the pre-sale estimate of $5,000-$10,000, Hunt Auctions said.

The auction included 280 items from Williams’ personal collection that had been held by his daughter, Claudia, who died last year. Among the other items were a silver bat awarded for his 1958 batting title, which sold for more than $270,000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him by fellow naval aviator George H.W. Bush, which went for $141,000.

The sale also included items from the collection of Rutherford Hayes Jones, the business manager of the Washington Giants, one of the earliest Black baseball teams. The trove was discovered in 2001 in a suitcase, where it had been unseen for 40 years.

A first batch of items from Claudia Williams’ collection went up for auction in 2012 at Fenway Park and garnered more than $5 million.

World

It’s a stunning shift in US policy – but Biden’s announcement will trigger fury and fresh threats from Moscow

Published

5 hours ago

November 17, 2024

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It's a stunning shift in US policy - but Biden's announcement will trigger fury and fresh threats from Moscow

Joe Biden’s belated decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied, long-range missiles inside Russia will be cheered by Kyiv and will almost certainly prompt the UK to follow suit.

But the stunning shift in US policy – just weeks before Donald Trump takes over as US president – will also trigger fury and fresh threats from Moscow at a time of increasing uncertainty about the future course of its war.

President Vladimir Putin has warned the West they would be playing with fire if they allowed Ukrainian forces to launch Western-supplied cruise and ballistic missiles at Russia, saying it could even trigger a global conflict.

British and US officials, though, have repeatedly advised their respective capitals not to be intimidated by Moscow’s sabre rattling.

Ukraine war latest: Biden lifts ban on Russia strikes

Yet there has been hesitancy, particularly in Washington, over the unleashing of US Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) ballistic missiles beyond the borders of Ukraine.

However, it seems that a move by North Korea to send thousands of its troops to fight with Russia has changed US calculations.

The New York Times, which was among the US media organisations to break news of the Biden administration’s decision on long-range missiles, reported that the first time the American weapons will be used inside Russia will likely be against Russian and North Korean troops battling a Ukrainian incursion in the Russian region of Kursk.

While a significant step up in support for Ukraine, the ability to use American long-range missiles inside Russia is not a war-winning development.

But it does expand Kyiv’s capacity to hit important military targets deliberately positioned by Russian commanders far back from the frontline. This includes stockpiles of missiles, drones and other ammunition used to strike Ukraine.

Just as important as the military impact, though, is the political signal that the US decision sends to the Kremlin about Washington’s willingness to defy Russian warnings about dire consequences should Mr Biden dare to grant Ukraine the permission it’s so long been seeking.

The dramatic move by the United States comes after months of lobbying by Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

A key thing to watch now will be how Mr Putin reacts the first time an American missile kills Russian soldiers on Russian soil.

Moscow does not want a direct war with the United States and NATO – nuclear-armed forces with far greater combined firepower – but the Kremlin could well ramp up an already heightened campaign of sabotage and other forms of hybrid warfare across Europe.

Another important reaction to track will be how Mr Trump responds to Mr Biden’s move and whether he continues to allow Ukraine this permission once he takes over as the US commander-in-chief.

The president-elect has vowed to end Russia’s war in Ukraine quickly but he has not said how. Yet he has voiced fierce opposition to the continued gifting of vast quantities of American weapons to the Ukrainian military.