<p> In a major breakthrough, astronomers including one of Indian origin have discovered two supermassive black holes orbiting each other 750 million light years away from Earth - a finding that may help better understand how gravitational waves are formed.<br /><br />Last year, an international team of researchers detected the existence of gravitational waves, confirming German physicist Albert Einstein's 100-year-old prediction and astonishing the scientific community.<br /><br />These gravitational waves were the result two stellar mass black holes of about 30 solar masses colliding in space.<br /><br />Scientists will now be able to start to understand what leads up to the merger of supermassive black holes that creates ripples in the fabric of space-time and begin to learn more about the evolution of galaxies and the role these black holes play in it.<br /><br />"For a long time, we've been looking into space to try and find a pair of these supermassive black holes orbiting as a result of two galaxies merging," said Professor Greg Taylor from University of New Mexico in the US.<br /><br />"Even though we've theorised that this should be happening, nobody had ever seen it until now," said Taylor.<br /><br />Researchers have been studying the interaction between these black holes for 12 years.<br />"When Dr Taylor gave me this data I was at the very beginning of learning how to image and understand it," said Karishma Bansal, first-author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal.<br /><br />"As I learned there was data going back to 2003, we plotted it and determined they are orbiting one another. It's very exciting," said Bansal.<br /><br />Using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a system made up of 10 radio telescopes across the US, researchers have been able to observe several frequencies of radio signals emitted by these supermassive black holes (SMBH).<br /><br />Over time, astronomers have essentially been able to plot their trajectory and confirm that these black holes are in orbit with one another.<br /><br />At roughly 750 million light years from Earth, the galaxy named 0402+379 and the supermassive black holes within it, are incredibly far away, but are also at the perfect distance from Earth and each other to be observed.<br /><br />Bansal said these supermassive black holes have a combined mass of 15 billion times that of our Sun, or 15 billion solar masses.<br /><br />The unbelievable size of these black holes means their orbital period is around 24,000 years, so while the team has been observing them for over a decade, they have yet to see even the slightest curvature in their orbit.<br /><br />Continuing to observe the orbit and interaction of these two supermassive black holes could also help us gain a better understanding of what the future of our own galaxy might look like.<br /><br />Right now, the Andromeda galaxy, which also has a SMBH at its centre, is on a path to collide with our Milky Way. The event that the researchers are studying may occur in our galaxy in a few billion years.</p>
<p> In a major breakthrough, astronomers including one of Indian origin have discovered two supermassive black holes orbiting each other 750 million light years away from Earth - a finding that may help better understand how gravitational waves are formed.<br /><br />Last year, an international team of researchers detected the existence of gravitational waves, confirming German physicist Albert Einstein's 100-year-old prediction and astonishing the scientific community.<br /><br />These gravitational waves were the result two stellar mass black holes of about 30 solar masses colliding in space.<br /><br />Scientists will now be able to start to understand what leads up to the merger of supermassive black holes that creates ripples in the fabric of space-time and begin to learn more about the evolution of galaxies and the role these black holes play in it.<br /><br />"For a long time, we've been looking into space to try and find a pair of these supermassive black holes orbiting as a result of two galaxies merging," said Professor Greg Taylor from University of New Mexico in the US.<br /><br />"Even though we've theorised that this should be happening, nobody had ever seen it until now," said Taylor.<br /><br />Researchers have been studying the interaction between these black holes for 12 years.<br />"When Dr Taylor gave me this data I was at the very beginning of learning how to image and understand it," said Karishma Bansal, first-author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal.<br /><br />"As I learned there was data going back to 2003, we plotted it and determined they are orbiting one another. It's very exciting," said Bansal.<br /><br />Using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a system made up of 10 radio telescopes across the US, researchers have been able to observe several frequencies of radio signals emitted by these supermassive black holes (SMBH).<br /><br />Over time, astronomers have essentially been able to plot their trajectory and confirm that these black holes are in orbit with one another.<br /><br />At roughly 750 million light years from Earth, the galaxy named 0402+379 and the supermassive black holes within it, are incredibly far away, but are also at the perfect distance from Earth and each other to be observed.<br /><br />Bansal said these supermassive black holes have a combined mass of 15 billion times that of our Sun, or 15 billion solar masses.<br /><br />The unbelievable size of these black holes means their orbital period is around 24,000 years, so while the team has been observing them for over a decade, they have yet to see even the slightest curvature in their orbit.<br /><br />Continuing to observe the orbit and interaction of these two supermassive black holes could also help us gain a better understanding of what the future of our own galaxy might look like.<br /><br />Right now, the Andromeda galaxy, which also has a SMBH at its centre, is on a path to collide with our Milky Way. The event that the researchers are studying may occur in our galaxy in a few billion years.</p>