16 March 2021•Update: 16 March 2021
By Fuat Kabakci
ANKARA (AA) - Astronomers have spotted a supermassive black hole wandering through space located 230 million years away from Earth.
Astrophysical Journal published a study by researchers at the Harvard and Smithsonian's Center for Astrophysics who observed the movement of the supermassive black hole.
“For their search, the team initially surveyed 10 distant galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their cores. They specifically studied black holes that contained water within their accretion disks — the spiral structures that spin inward towards the black hole,” according to the Harvard Gazette, the official news outlet of Harvard University.
The supermassive black hole is moving with a speed of around 177,028km (110,000 miles) per hour inside the galaxy J0437+2456, the report added.
According to researchers, two possibilities could explain the phenomenon.
The Harvard Gazette reported citing Jim Condon, an astronomer involved in the study, as saying: “We may be observing the aftermath of two supermassive black holes merging.”
“The result of such a merger can cause the newborn black hole to recoil, and we may be watching it in the act of recoiling or as it settles down again,” Condon added.
According to researchers, there is also a possibility the “black hole may be part of a binary system.”
