Binary Black Hole System Discovered

Astronomers at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory have found evidence of two black holes orbiting each other, the first confirmation that such a theoretical arrangement exists.

As matter falls into a black hole, it emits a particular wavelength of light that is characteristic of which way the black hole is moving. For a binary system, two wavelengths should be detected very close to each other, which matches a pair identified from more than 17,500 spectra of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

The two black holes are estimated to be less than a third of a light year apart, relatively close by astronomical standards, and orbit each other about once every 100 years. The black holes themselves are thought to be between 20 million and one billion times more massive than our Sun.

These results were published in a recent edition of Nature.

Source: BBC News