JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Stars and Galaxies
.

Black Hole Collision May Have Exploded With Light

Jun 25, 2020
This artist's concept shows a supermassive black hole surrounded by a disk of gas. Embedded in this disk are two smaller black holes that may have merged together to form a new black hole.
Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

In a first, astronomers may have seen light from the merger of two black holes, providing opportunities to learn about these mysterious dark objects.

When two black holes spiral around each other and ultimately collide, they send out gravitational waves - ripples in space and time that can be detected with extremely sensitive instruments on Earth. Since black holes and black hole mergers are completely dark, these events are invisible to telescopes and other light-detecting instruments used by astronomers. However, theorists have come up with ideas about how a black hole merger could produce a light signal by causing nearby material to radiate.

Now, scientists using Caltech's Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) located at Palomar Observatory near San Diego may have spotted what could be just such a scenario. If confirmed, it would be the first known light flare from a pair of colliding black holes.

The merger was identified on May 21, 2019, by two gravitational wave detectors - the National Science Foundation's Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and the European Virgo detector - in an event called GW190521g. That detection allowed the ZTF scientists to look for light signals from the location where the gravitational wave signal originated. These gravitational wave detectors have also spotted mergers between dense cosmic objects called neutron stars, and astronomers have identified light emissions from those collisions.

The ZTF results are described in a new study published in the journal Physical Review Letters. The authors hypothesize that the two partner black holes, each several dozen times more massive than the Sun, were orbiting a third, supermassive black hole that is millions of times the mass of the Sun and surrounded by a disk of gas and other material. When the two smaller black holes merged, they formed a new, larger black hole that would have experienced a kick and shot off in a random direction. According to the new study, it may have plowed through the disk of gas, causing it to light up.

"This detection is extremely exciting," said Daniel Stern, coauthor of the new study and an astrophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which is a division of Caltech. "There's a lot we can learn about these two merging black holes and the environment they were in based on this signal that they sort of inadvertently created. So the detection by ZTF, coupled with what we can learn from the gravitational waves, opens up a new avenue to study both black hole mergers and these disks around supermassive black holes."

The authors note that while they conclude the flare detected by ZTF is likely the result of a black hole merger, they cannot completely rule out other possibilities.

To learn more, read the press release from Caltech.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/signup/

News Media Contact

Calla Cofield

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

626-808-2469

calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov

2020-120

Related News

Stars and Galaxies .

Telescopes Unite in Unprecedented Observations of Famous Black Hole

Stars and Galaxies .

Trio of Fast-Spinning Brown Dwarfs May Reveal a Rotational Speed Limit

Stars and Galaxies .

Reclusive Neutron Star May Have Been Found in Famous Supernova

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for SPHEREx Astrophysics Mission

Exoplanets .

The 7 Rocky TRAPPIST-1 Planets May Be Made of Similar Stuff

Stars and Galaxies .

Citizen Scientists Help Create 3D Map of Cosmic Neighborhood

Stars and Galaxies .

Gravitational Wave Search Finds Tantalizing New Clue

Stars and Galaxies .

A New NASA Space Telescope, SPHEREx, Is Moving Ahead

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA Missions Help Pinpoint the Source of a Unique X-ray, Radio Burst

Stars and Galaxies .

'Echo Mapping' in Faraway Galaxies Could Measure Vast Cosmic Distances

Explore More

Topic .

Stars and Galaxies

Video .

Underwater ‘White Smoker’ Vents: Is This Where Life Began?

Video .

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope: Unveiling the Universe

Video .

NASA's New Planet Tracker, NEID

Image .

NASA's Spitzer Spots a Perfectly Sideways Galaxy

Image .

A Whirlpool Warhol Shows Galaxy in Different Light

Video .

Stars of Cepheus as Seen by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

Image .

Spitzer Captures Messier 87

Infographic .

Voyager 2: By the Numbers

Video .

15 Years in Space: Spitzer Space Telescope

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors of JPL
JPL History
Documentary Series
Virtual Tour
Annual Reports
Missions
All
Current
Past
Future
News
All
Earth
Mars
Solar System
Universe
Technology
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Infographics
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Engage
JPL and the Community
Lecture Series
Public Tours
Events
Team Competitions
JPL Speakers Bureau
Topics
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Stars and Galaxies
Exoplanets
Technology
JPL Life
For Media
Contacts and Information
Press Kits
More
Asteroid Watch
Robotics at JPL
Subscribe to Newsletter
Universe Newsletter
Social Media
RSS
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Manager: Veronica McGregor
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Randal Jackson, Naomi Hartono