News Astronomy

Supermassive black hole gets kicked to the galactic curb

Gravitational waves may have delivered boot toward deep space

quasar 3C 186

ON ITS WAY OUT  A radiation-gushing supermassive black hole, quasar 3C 186 (second brightest blob in the blue oval), appears to be zooming away from its galaxy’s center (brightest blob in blue oval). The extreme exit may be a result of gravitational waves from merging black holes.

M. Chiaberge/STScI, JHU/ESA, NASA

By Ashley Yeager

- More than 2 years ago

A black hole weighing more than a billion suns appears to have gotten the boot toward the outer edges of its galaxy.