A black hole could be scary, but two black holes next two each other?
Reports have recently surfaced regarding two massive black holes that are on the course of colliding, which was discovered by two astronomers.
So what happens when these two come together on their collision course? Well, it could result in a massive blast that it can potentially "destroy an entire galaxy," as per news.com.au.
Thanks to data gathered from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, researchers were able to find the two black holes.
In fact, they discovered that the two black holes "are so close together" that they are considered the "tightest orbiting pair" found so far, as reported by Unilad.
The estimated distance between the two black holes in question is approximately one million light years away, which is basically the diameter of our own solar system.
What's alarming about this news is that when the two black holes finally come together - in one million years - the power from the collision itself will be more than 100 million supernovae, which is actually really powerful.
According to a theory developed by Albert Einstein a century ago, the two black holes will merge in a kind of "death spiral," which is expected to give off gravitational waves.
With the use of the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey telescopes, researchers also found that "the varying signal" was highly likely produced from the movement of the two black holes - which "swing around each other every five years."
NASA reported that the black holes don't give off light, although the materials around them do otherwise.
The study authors claim that black holes spin faster as the surrounding material sends out more light. Basically, if the light is brighter, it's much closer to Earth.
Lead author of the study, Daniel D'Orazio from Columbia University, told NASA: "It's as if a 60-Watt light bulb suddenly appears to be 100 Watts. [...] As the black hole light speeds away from us, it appears as a dimmer 20-Watt bulb."
The theory posited by the researchers were eventually proven, thanks to previous observations from the GALEX and Hubble telescopes.
