Reseachers find out why a supermassive black hole appears to move

Researchers often assume that massive galaxies host supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in their nuclei. In recent years, observers have sought galaxies that might contain an SMBH that is displaced from its equilibrium position. Among the scenarios that could cause such a displacement are the merger of two SMBHs or the existence of a binary pair of SMBHs, and finding an example would give astronomers information about the evolution of galaxies and the frequency of the formation and mergers of this type of object.

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Credits: Adam Block, Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, U. Arizona

The elliptical galaxy M87 is the home of several trillion stars, a supermassive black hole and a family of roughly 15,000 globular star clusters. For comparison, our Milky Way galaxy contains only a few hundred billion stars and about 150 globular clusters.

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Credits: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA

Streaming out from the center of M87 like a cosmic searchlight is one of nature’s most amazing phenomena: a black-hole-powered jet of subatomic particles traveling at nearly the speed of light.

In this Hubble image, the blue jet contrasts with the yellow glow from the combined light of billions of unresolved stars and the point-like clusters of stars that make up this galaxy

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Taken over a 13-year span, this sequence of Hubble images reveals changes in a black-hole-powered jet of hot gas in the giant elliptical galaxy M87.

These images are part of a new time-lapse movie that shows hot plasma spiraling along magnetic field lines generated by the supermassive black hole.