Max Planck reports supermassive black hole signs in Mrk 501
Scientists have found signs of not one, but two supermassive black holes hanging out in the galaxy Mrk 501, about 464 million light-years away.
Led by Silke Britzen at the Max Planck Institute, the team noticed strange light patterns that point to a pair of black holes powering some seriously fast jets of matter.
If this is confirmed, it could be our first real look at two supermassive black holes on track to merge within the next 100 years.
Jet wobble suggests close black holes
After studying Mrk 501's core for over two decades with radio telescopes, researchers spotted unusual jet movements and patterns, like a seven-year wobble and a 121-day period, that suggest these black holes are orbiting super close together (just 0.0026 parsecs apart).
This might help scientists better understand the final parsec problem, which is all about figuring out how massive black holes actually get close enough to collide.
Watching this play out could teach us tons about how galaxies evolve.