A group of American astronomers has proven that archival documents from observatories are a gold mine. Observations of the core of the elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379 by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii revealed enough information to “weigh” a pair of supermassive black holes located there. Their total mass turned out to be a record for observations in history – they weigh as much as 28 billion Suns.
Galaxy B2 0402+379, also known as radio galaxy 4C+37.11, is 750 million light-years away. This is a “fossil” object left on the site of a former galaxy cluster. This galaxy probably arose after several stages of merger of other galaxies in the cluster, which also explains the emergence of supermassive black holes during such a process.
Archival data on the stars in the core of B2 0402+379 has made it possible to create a picture of the behavior of the masses hidden there – a pair of supermassive black holes circling each other. A precisely selected model made it possible to calculate the total mass of these objects, which turned out to be a record for the binary SBS system – 28 billion solar masses. Astronomers have never observed this before.
But the surprises didn't end there. Based on the parameters of the binary system of supermassive black holes and stars at the center of the remains of an ancient galaxy cluster, it can be assumed that this pair has been circling each other at a distance of only 24 light years for about 3 billion years. Typically, binary SMBH systems end their dance by merging and forming a single supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. In this case, this did not happen and, as scientists suspect, this may never happen at all – their “dance” may turn out to be eternal!
According to theory, models and observations, black holes in binary systems (and this happens when two galaxies merge) due to dynamic friction and interaction with the surrounding matter and stars lose energy (angular momentum), come closer and merge into one object.
The observed SMBH pair in B2 0402+379 turned out to be so massive that it promises to be an exception to this rule. Firstly, it picked up or displaced all matter from the surrounding space. This allowed the black holes to retain a significant portion of their angular momentum and hardly slow down in their orbital motion. Secondly, each of the pair of SMBHs is so large that the loss of energy due to the emission of gravitational waves for them is very, very small. It seems that the system has become as stable as possible.
Scientists will continue to observe B2 0402+379 in the hope of detecting matter there and the interaction of black holes with it. This will allow us to more accurately understand the ongoing and possible processes in the binary system. Finally, this is an opportunity to learn something new and unusual about the evolution of black holes and galaxies, and this is worth a lot.
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