A three-galaxy collision was recently discovered by researchers with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. A routine measurement task led to the discovery of a "supermassive black hole," which reportedly holds clues on the universe.
Business Insider reports that the researchers were first drawn to the "supermassive black hole" existence when they noticed unusual gas movement at 370 miles per second. The movement of the gas not only indicated the presence of a black hole but also provided the view of the size of the black hole.
The gas movement is caused and sped up by strength of the gravity from the black hole. The resulting radio wave emission is what the ASKAP detected.
Supermassive black holes may be everywhere >> https://t.co/mGhjxwNZIW pic.twitter.com/h87RVS3I0y
— Discovery (@Discovery) April 10, 2016
The galaxy, named IRAS 20100-4156, appears to actually be composed of the separate galaxies. Each one is a spiral galaxy. When these galaxies collided, so did their black holes appear to have merged.
The "supermassive black hole" was therefrom formed. The researchers also noticed indications that the collided galaxies may be have produced a blackhole that serves as a factory of stars.
As opposed to black holes of lone galaxies, collided galaxies were observed by experts to result to merged blackholes that hasten star production than most other places in space. ABC News reports starbursts as these essentially allow researchers to see further into space.
Two black holes may have been spawned by the death of one massive star >> https://t.co/5zXww8NFnZ pic.twitter.com/lkGov3o6d8 — Discovery (@Discovery) February 24, 2016
These findings were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Lead author at CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith stated that the study of similar "supermassive blackholes" of various age could allow further insight into the evolution of the universe.
"We want to know whether galaxy collisions, and the formation of supermassive black holes, have really driven the star formation rates that we see in galaxies and how that's changed throughout time," Lisa Harvey-Smith said.
