Scientists have discovered paired supermassive black holes

Objects separated by a distance of about 24 light-years, but they are gravitationally bound with each other.

For the first time astronomers have discovered two supermassive black holes, one of which revolves around the other.

Objects are in elliptical galaxy 0402+379, which is removed at 750 million light years from Earth. About the discovery reported in a press release published on the website of EurekAlert!.

Galaxy 0402+379 was discovered in 1995. Astronomers have studied it in 2003 and in 2005 with the help of American radio interferometer VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) consisting of 10 radio telescopes. They found that the galaxy contains two nuclei, which is evidence of the merger of 0402+379 on the other star system. In the center of the nuclei Harbor supermassive black holes.

Researchers estimate that the total mass of the system exceeds the mass of the Sun is 15 billion times. Black holes separated by a distance of about 24 light-years, but they are gravitationally bound with each other. A full rotation they are making over 30 thousand years. According to scientists, millions of years these objects will merge, resulting in gravitational waves, such as those that have registered Observatory LIGO in 2015. Scientists plan to find a pair of black holes in other galaxies. Since the merger of galaxies is a common phenomenon of such binary systems should meet relatively frequently.

paradox