American astronomers from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, together with their Italian colleagues, discovered two supermassive holes very close to each other by cosmic standards. According to scientists, this neighborhood is reminiscent of a fight between Japanese sumo wrestlers. The research was published in the scientific journal broadcasting Astrophysical Journal (TAJ).
As observations from the Hubble and Chandra space telescopes show, the black holes are only about 300 light-years away, much less than other pairs of similar objects.
“Sumo Clash” is set in the gas-rich galaxy MCG-03-34-64, located about 800 million light-years from Earth.
The team found three peaks in optical brightness; two of them were caused by the glow of material around the supermassive objects. The third light source has not yet been identified. Scientists suggest that the radiation could come from gas heated by a plasma jet from one of the black holes.
According to astronomers, the black holes found were once located at the centers of galaxies. Then the galaxies merged and their cores were very close to each other. After about 100 million years, the black holes will merge. This event will create gravitational waves that distort space and time.
Earlier scientists clarified The mystery of the merger of supermassive black holes.