After the Hubble Space Telescope has been in service for a long time in space, the focus on supermassive black holes has resurfaced. New research shows that a supermassive black hole is trying to escape from its own galaxy.
The research is awaiting publication in the Astro-Physical Journal Letters. A physicist at Yale University is observing this. Manuela Campanelli, a Rochester Institute of Technology scientist, said that what has been observed so far is completely consistent with the study.
The zoom-in video on the right shows that the large spot is a galaxy. Following the faint line farther down, a point is seen below that has been called a runaway black hole. Gas, stars, and cosmic matter usually surround supermassive black holes. This is why astronomers cannot easily see black holes.
The study also shows that black holes have paved the way for the birth of new stars as they exit. A shock wave was then created. At the same time, various clouds of gas in the galaxy were collapsing into stars.
At first, scientists thought that the data they obtained was not correct. But later, it was clarified that what was observed was correct. Similar scenarios have been seen before where black holes have swallowed and destroyed stars.
Researchers will try to confirm once more with the James Webb Space Telescope. A supermassive black hole usually needs a lot of force to push it away from its galaxy.
Van Dokkum thinks that this particular supermassive black hole is more rare and tries to leave the galaxy more dramatically. Previously, Hubble telescope had imaged many galaxy mergers. Generally, a ‘rogue’ supermassive black hole refers to one that has left its galaxy.