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Science and Innovations

Flagstaff Astronomer Observes Pair of Black Holes in Orbit

Josh Valenzuela, University of New Mexico

A Flagstaff astronomer is part of a team that observed for the first time two black holes locked together in orbit. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

Most galaxies harbor a massive black hole at their center. When two galaxies collide, the black holes within them are thrown together in a spiraling dance.

Scientists have seen this in action for the first time with an array of radio telescopes.

Bob Zavala, astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, says, "The significance here is we can show we have a pair that we believe are in orbit about each other, and this is an example of source that could eventually merge and become a very massive black hole."

Zavala says this particular pair hasn’t merged yet and may be stuck in a stable orbit. The team plans to make additional measurements of their motion every few years.

It takes more than twenty thousand years for the two black holes to complete a single orbit.

Melissa joined KNAU's team in 2015 to report on science, health, and the environment. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR and been featured on Science Friday. She grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she fell in love with the ecology and geology of the Sonoran desert.
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