Discover the largest pair of black holes near Earth

NASA on August 31 said, using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have discovered the first pair of supermassive black holes in a spiral galaxy similar to our Milky Way.

About 160 million light-years from Earth, this is the closest pair of black holes ever known. The black holes are located near the center of the spiral galaxy called NGC 3393.

These two black holes are just 490 light-years apart and are most likely the remains of a merger between two uneven masses 1 or more years ago.

Both of these super giant black holes are obscured by dust and gas, making them difficult to observe with optical light. But because X-rays are stronger, they can penetrate these obscuring objects. Chandra's X-ray spectrum has clear signs of a pair of supermassive black holes.

"If this galaxy is not too close, we would not have had the opportunity to observe these two black holes separately as we did," said Pepi Fabbiano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who led the study published in the online edition of Nature magazine.

Pepi Fabbiano added: " Because this galaxy is right in front of our eyes, this makes us wonder how many black holes we have missed."

Previous observations with X-rays and below other wavelengths show that a supermassive black hole exists at the center of the galaxy NGC 3393. However, a long view by Chandra observatory allows researchers to Save and detect and separate this pair of black holes.

When two spiral galaxies are of equal size, astronomers believe that will lead to the formation of a pair of black holes and a galaxy with a broken shape and intense star formation. .

Furthermore a galaxy containing a pair of black holes will have unusual properties.