NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope have been used to study a cluster of stars, nicknamed “Nikhuli," that may be acting as a black hole "delivery system."
Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
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TechTranscript
00:00Visit Chandra's Beautiful Universe, NGC 4424.
00:10Astronomers may have witnessed a galaxy's black hole delivery system in action.
00:16A new study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope
00:23outlines how a large black hole may have been delivered to the spiral galaxy NGC 4424 by another smaller galaxy.
00:34NGC 4424 is located about 54 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster.
00:43The main panel shows a wide field view, about 45,000 light-years wide, of this galaxy in optical light from Hubble.
00:53The center of this galaxy is expected to host a large black hole, estimated to contain a mass between 60,000 and 100,000 suns.
01:03Astronomers examining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory found an elongated object, which they determined is a cluster of stars.
01:13They refer to this object as Nkuli, a name relating to the Tulini festive period of celebrating and wishing for a rich harvest.
01:23This name is taken from the Sumi language from the Indian state of Nagaland.
01:28The Chandra data shows a point source of X-rays.
01:33The researchers determined Nkuli is likely the center of a small galaxy that has had most of its stars stripped away as it collides with the larger galaxy NGC 4424.
01:46Nkuli has also been stretched out by gravitational forces as it falls towards the center of NGC 4424, giving it an elongated shape.
01:57Currently, Nkuli is about 1,300 light-years from the center of NGC 4424, or about 20 times closer than the Earth is to the Milky Way's giant black hole.
02:10After considering other possibilities, the researchers determined that these results imply that Nkuli is likely acting as a delivery system for NGC 4424's supply of black holes,
02:24in this case bringing along a massive one.
02:28If the center of NGC 4424 contains a massive black hole, Nkuli's massive black hole should end up orbiting it.
02:38The separation of the pair should then shrink until gravitational waves are produced and the two massive black holes merge with each other.
02:54NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology