Astronomers have discovered two supermassive black holes that are 99%
of the way to a violent collision that will rock the very fabric of space-time.
The black holes, which share the name PKS 2131-021, are locked in a dance of doom about 9 billion light-years from Earth, according to a study published Feb. 23 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The two objects have moved steadily toward each other for about 100 million years, according to a statement from NASA, and now they share a binary orbit, with the two black holes orbiting each other every two years or so.
About 10,000 years from now, the two black holes will merge, sending gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time originally predicted by Albert Einstein — surging across the universe, the researchers said. Though none of us will witness that epic collision, studying PKS 2131-021 now could reveal new information about how supermassive black holes form and what happens when two of them collide.
Sorry I won't be here to see it...
Damn that man made global warming lol
ReplyDeleteI'm a procrastinator, but I don't take it to extremes. I'll start to worry in 9,000 years.
ReplyDeleteI thought maybe one of the black holes might be named whoopi goldberg....
ReplyDeleteI think Ric has the right idea
ReplyDelete