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In a galaxy billions of light-years away, two gigantic black holes are caught in a cosmic dance that routinely unleashes a huge explosion that’s brighter than a trillion suns.
One of the black holes is a complete colossus; Weighing approximately 18 billion times more massive than the Sun, it is one of the largest black holes that scientists have discovered. He dwarfs his dance partner, who is also huge, weighing in at 150 million masses of sunshine.
The couple is caught in an endless dance in galaxy OJ 287, about 3.5 billion light-years from Earth.
About twice every 12 years, the smallest black hole breaks through a huge disk of dust and gas surrounding its supermassive companion. This unleashes the extraordinary explosion of light that is brighter than a trillion stars. This impressive eruption is so bright that coffins can detect it from here on Earth and have become adept at predicting the timing of the interaction.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has released an animation that captures the amazing phenomenon.
The oblong orbit of the smallest black hole causes it to pass through the disk at irregular intervals, making it difficult for researchers to know exactly when the next explosion will occur.
However, a new study, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, reveals that experts got their predictions for the latest event, and NASA’s Spitzer Telescope managed to capture Galaxy OJ 287 at the perfect time.
“When I first verified the visibility of OJ 287, I was surprised to find that it became visible to Spitzer just on the day the next flare was forecast.” said Seppo Laine, a scientist who works at Spitzer.
“It was extremely fortunate that we were able to capture the peak of this flare with Spitzer, because no other man-made instrument was able to accomplish this feat at that specific time.” Laine added.
The next burning is forecasted to take place in 2022 and the next ones are slated for 2033 and 2034. The impressive cosmic dance will eventually end in disaster, as the smallest black hole appears to be swallowed by its giant companion in the next 10,000 years.
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