Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery in the galaxy OJ 287, revealing the most extreme double black hole system ever found. The blazar, which is essentially a quasar seen head-on, has been found to harbor a massive companion black hole that orbits its main black hole. This unique configuration has led to a severe reorientation of the jet’s trajectory, forming a crooked structure with three distinct bends.
The discovery was made possible by combining data from 10 radio telescopes across the United States and Russia, as well as observations from NASA’s Fermi Space Telescope and Swift mission. The resulting image shows that the black hole’s jet is not straight but instead follows a curved path, which is a result of the gravity of the orbiting second black hole.
This extreme binary system has sparked significant interest among astronomers due to its potential for further research into merging black holes and associated gravitational waves. However, their eventual collision and merger are still far off, with the European Space Agency’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission not expected to launch until the mid-2030s.
The OJ 287 system has been studied extensively over 150 years, with astronomers tracking its cycles of brightness variations. The discovery of a companion black hole with about 150 million times the mass of the sun has confirmed the hypothesis that the system is indeed a binary black hole. This finding opens up new avenues for research into the behavior of these massive objects and their impact on the universe.
The study was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, providing further insights into the mysteries of OJ 287 and its place within the complex landscape of astrophysical phenomena.
Source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/black-holes/exotic-blazar-is-part-of-most-extreme-double-black-hole-system-ever-found-crooked-jet-suggests