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© NASA / JPL-Caltech
Large black holes unleash a brighter explosion of a trillion stars
In a galaxy billions of light-years away, two massive black holes are caught in a cosmic dance that routinely unleashes a massive, brilliant explosion of a trillion stars.
One of the black holes is a complete giant, approximately 18 billion times larger than the sun, and it is one of the largest black holes that scientists have discovered.
The duo is caught up in an endless dance in galaxy OJ 287, about 3.5 billion light-years from Earth.
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And almost twice every 12 years, the smallest black hole is ruptured by a huge disk of dust and gas surrounding its massive companion, triggering the extraordinary burst of light that’s brighter than a trillion stars. This amazing eruption is so bright that scientists can discover it from Earth.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory released a cartoon that captures the remarkable phenomenon.
A new study, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, revealed that experts immediately got their forecasts on the latest happenings, and NASA’s Spitzer Telescope was able to capture Galaxy OJ 287 at the perfect time.
Cebu Lin, a scientist working at Spitzer, said: “Fortunately we will be able to capture the height of this brilliance with Spitzer, because no other man-made tool was able to achieve this achievement at that specific time.”
The next explosion is expected to occur in 2022, with two more in 2033 and 2034. The impressive cosmic dance ends in disaster, as it appears that the smallest black hole will be swallowed by its giant companion for the next 10,000 years.
Source: RT
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