Astronomers Discover 33 Pairs of Waltzing Black Holes 101
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!