A supermassive black hole is speeding through its galaxy at thousands of miles per second

 Supermassive black holes are being discovered at the centre of several galaxies and are thought to be present at the centre of every galaxy. Black holes are now been seen to play important role in formation and evolution of galaxies. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way has a supermassive central black hole called as Sagittarius A*. Its mass is about 4 million (40 lakh) times that of our sun. 

 

The central black hole in a galaxy generally does not move with respect to the host galaxy. However, events such as when two galaxies merge into one another, the central black holes of these galaxies would interact at some time point. The black hole would revolve around one another rapidly and eventually merge together. It has been theorized that formation of such binary black hole state would result in movement of the black hole with respect to their galaxies. Also, the black hole merger event would cause a jerk force to the resulting black hole. Until now direct observation of such motion of black hole with respect to its galaxy wasn’t done.

For the first time, about 228 million light years away in a galaxy named SDSS J043703.67+245606.8, it was observed that the central black hole is moving with a massive speed of 2989 miles per second. Using Arecibo Observatory data, it was inferred that the galaxy itself is moving away from us at a speed of 3051 miles/s. Observations from the Gemini North telescope showed that the black hole itself is moving within its host galaxy. What exactly caused this black hole to move at such a speed is unknown but the system is believed to be perturbed very recently in astronomical terms. Only, a black hole binary formation and the gravitational recoil events due to the merging of two black holes could explain such velocities. However, additional data is required to understand the possible reason for this moving black hole.

 

Reference: Dominic W. Pesce et al 2021 ApJ 909 141

Black hole screenshot taken from Space Engine.