A “supermassive” black hole is hurtling through space at top speed, leaving behind a trail of stars 200,000 light-years away, according to an unprecedented discovery reported by the US space agency (NASA).
This black hole, whose mass exceeds twenty million times the size of the sun, flows into space and collides with the gas clouds that it encounters in front of it.
Due to the force of the hole’s movement, the gas later turns into a chain of stars, which NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope was able to observe.
Yale scientist Peter van Dokkum said in a statement: “We think we see a rise behind the black hole where gas cools and can form stars,” adding: “What we see is remnants. Similar to the trail that a ship leaves when it is moving, here we see a trail left by it.” Black hole”.
The researchers believe that it is possible that the temperature of the gas rose due to the collision of the black hole with it, and then it cools down after the hole passed, which leads to the emergence of stars.
Van Dokkum pointed out that “the gas is affected by the supersonic effect of the black hole, which is moving at extreme speed.”
Scientists believe that this hole, which is a celestial monster, comes from a huge group of three galaxies.
According to their theory, two galaxies may have merged about 50 million years ago, causing two supermassive black holes to orbit each other.
It was discovered by accident
However, a third galaxy with its own black hole collided with this group, which led to the creation of an unstable and chaotic trio, which led to the expulsion of one of the black holes at a tremendous speed, as the hole observed by “Hubble” could travel the distance between the Earth and the Moon within 14 one minute.
The researchers who made this discovery stated that the black hole does not represent a threat to humanity, as what was discovered happened in space long ago, when the universe was half its current age.
As for the reason behind seeing this phenomenon now, it is due to the fact that light took a long time to reach us.
Van Dokkum pointed out that this discovery happened by chance.
And through the use of the “Hubble” space telescope, the scientist observed “an amazing, very bright and unusual small path of stars,” and said, “What we saw is unlike any cosmic phenomenon that we have observed previously.”
NASA stated that this hole, the likes of which had not been observed before, may not be the only one in the universe.
It is assumed that the new “Nancy Grace Roman” space telescope, scheduled to be launched during the current decade, will provide a broader view of space, and may discover more star trails that are an indication of the presence of one of these giant holes.
