Update : Anew studyhas brought this research into question by having not found any strong motion in the gas that would indicate a third supermassive smutty mess .
Almost every galaxy in the universe has at its core a supermassive grim hole . Or , more accurately , we should say that they have at least one because an international team of research worker has just discovered a galaxy that might have three for the first fourth dimension .
Galaxy NGC 6240 has an unorthodox shape due to being the terminal product of a galax uniting . The assumption has been that two galaxies collided long ago due to the bearing of two supermassive black maw . But , as reported in the journalAstronomy & Astrophysics , newfangled observations have revealed it is likely to have three , not two .
“ Through our observation with passing high spatial solving we were able to show that the interacting galaxy system NGC 6240 host not two – as previously assumed – but three supermassive ignominious holes in its centre , ” lead generator Professor Wolfram Kollatschny from the University of Göttingen said in astatement .
Each of the three supermassive black cakehole has a pile over 90 million metre of the Sun . By compare , Sagittarius A * , thesupermassive shameful muddle at the center of the Milky Wayis “ only ” just over 4 million time our Sun ’s mass . The three black holes are site in a volume of less than 3,000 light - years across .
“ Such a concentration of three supermassive blackened cakehole has so far never been fall upon in the universe , ” adds Dr. Peter Weilbacher of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam ( AIP ) . “ The present casing provides grounds of a simultaneous merging process of three galaxy along with their fundamental grim holes . ”
Galaxy uniting are rare but crucial events in the evolution of beetleweed . It is the mechanism for the formation of the most monolithic galaxies in the cosmos . uranologist are in reality unsure how these formed in relatively short cosmic clip . The existence of many multiple mergers such as NGC 6240 could excuse it .
" If coinciding merging processes of several galaxy took billet , then the largest galaxies with their central supermassive opprobrious kettle of fish were able to develop much faster , ” Weilbacher excuse . " Our observation furnish the first indication of this scenario . ”
While still apart , for now , the supermassive black mess will continue to move towards each other . Over the next million year , they will merge into a single one , releasing incredible gravitational waves .
