When galaxies get close enough, they can collide in epic events that can destroy one or both merge into a larger galaxyAnd sometimes, on very rare occasions, both galaxies can contain a quasar – an extremely bright galactic core formed around a supermassive black hole that is so luminous that it can shine brighter than the rest of the galaxy.
Now, a new study has identified not just one, but two pairs of quasars in galaxies that are merging. By studying these two pairs, which are extremely distant, around 10 billion years old, astronomers can learn more about how galaxies and their supermassive black holes are merging.
“We estimate that in the distant universe there is a double quasar for every thousand quasars. So finding these double quasars is like finding a needle in a haystack, ”said Yue Shen of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, lead author of the paper. Explanation
Astronomers believe that quasars were more abundant about 10 billion years ago and that many galactic fusions took place. That said, it is more likely to find pairs of quasars from this particular time.
“This is really the first example of high-galaxy double quasars that we can use to study ideas of how supermassive black holes converge to eventually form a binary number,” said Nadia Zakamska, a member of the Johns Hopkins University study team.
The researchers discovered the quasar pairs using the instruments, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gaia Space Observatory. The quasar pairs are so close together that they appear as one object until the researchers, with the help of Hubble, take a closer look.
Now astronomers can use these pairs to learn more about galaxy formation. “Quasars have a profound influence on the formation of galaxies in the universe,” said Zakamska. “Finding double quasars in this early era is important as we can now test our old ideas about how black holes and their host galaxies evolve together.”
Editor’s Recommendations
–
