Space

Supermassive Black Hole Expelled From The Core Of Distant Galaxy Due To Strong Gravitational Waves

Elaine Hannah
First Posted: Mar 25, 2017 04:51 AM EDT

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope detected a supermassive black hole expelled out from the center of the distant galaxy by powerful gravitational waves. This black hole is the biggest black hole that has been identified to be kicked out of the galaxy.

The discovery was found by Marco Chiaberge from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland and his colleagues. Chiaberge said that the amount of energy that is required for a supermassive black hole to be expelled is equivalent to 100 million supernovae exploding simultaneously, as noted by New Scientist.

In the image taken by Hubble, it showed a bright quasar, which is the energetic signature of the black hole, located from the galactic center. The scientists noticed the unique features of the galaxy discharging strong blasts of radiation in the throes of galaxy mergers. The team did not expect to see a quasar, not in the center of the galaxy based on their observations. It was clearly removed from the center of a regular shaped galaxy.

Justin Ely of STScl, one of the researchers, said that they found the gas surrounding the black hole was flying away from the center at 4.7 million miles an hour. It was moving fast that it could travel from Earth to the Moon in just three minutes.

So, how did the black hole expel from the core of this galaxy? The researchers explained that in two galaxies that are merged, their black holes are at the core of the newly developed elliptical galaxy. Once the black holes spun with each other, the gravity waves ejected enormously. If these objects do not have the same mass and rotation level, they discharge powerful gravitational waves. Also, when they collide, they inhibit from generating gravitational waves. On the other hand, the newly merged black hole retreats in the opposite direction of the most powerful gravitational waves and then rocketed out from the galaxy, according to NASA. 

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