Astronomers Discover 33 Pairs of Waltzing Black Holes 101
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by
ScuttleMonkey
from the teach-them-to-foxtrot dept.
from the teach-them-to-foxtrot dept.
Astronomers from UC Berkeley have identified 33 pairs of waltzing black holes, closing the gap somewhat between the observed population of super-massive black hole pairs and what had been predicted by theory. "Astronomical observations have shown that 1) nearly every galaxy has a central super-massive black hole (with a mass of a million to a billion times the mass of the Sun), and 2) galaxies commonly collide and merge to form new, more massive galaxies. As a consequence of these two observations, a merger between two galaxies should bring two super-massive black holes to the new, more massive galaxy formed from the merger. The two black holes gradually in-spiral toward the center of this galaxy, engaging in a gravitational tug-of-war with the surrounding stars. The result is a black hole dance, choreographed by Newton himself. Such a dance is expected to occur in our own Milky Way Galaxy in about 3 billion years, when it collides with the Andromeda Galaxy."
Waltzing? (Score:4, Funny)
Apparently, the definition "waltzing"/a waltz has been diminished to the extent that now it just refers to two objects moving together. Hum.
I guess I'm just a cranky music theory lover though.
The big question (Score:3, Funny)
Who leads and who follows?
OH NO! (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Waltzing? (Score:3, Funny)
Time to play Waltzing Matilda then?
Re:The big question (Score:2, Funny)
Well, it's governed by orbital mechanics and gravity ... so the bigger one technically 'leads', but the smaller one also exerts some influence. :-P
Cheers
Re:Wake Me Up When (Score:3, Funny)
Meh, that's no big deal. Wake me up when a bunch of black holes line up to dance.
THEN you know we've got problems.
Doo doo doo de do de do doo doo/
Doo doo doo de do de do doo doo/
Do the hustle!