Mystery surrounding missing supermassive black hole deepens. Here’s what we know

Where’s the supermassive black hole? Astronomers are on the hunt for a supermassive black hole which should be in the centre of galaxy cluster Abell 2261. However, they’ve found no evidence of it yet.

Black holes are fascinating regions of spacetime whose study often causes a whole lot of intrigue amongst many. If you’re someone who likes learning about black holes, then here’s an Instagram post you cannot miss. The share, by NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory, details the mystery of a missing black hole. The whole situation is so unusual that reading about it may leave you perplexed.

The post, shared on December 17, comprises two images with some informative text. (Instagram/@nasachandraxray)

The post, shared on December 17, comprises two images with some informative text. It reads, “The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a supermassive #BlackHole has deepened. Despite careful searches with Chandra, @NASAHubble, and other telescopes, a distant black hole estimated to weigh billions of times the mass of our Sun isn’t anywhere to be found”.

According to an official blog post by NASA, nearly every galaxy in the Universe contains a supermassive black hole at its centre. Scientists expect the enormous galaxy in the centre of galaxy cluster Abell 2261 to include a supermassive black hole that rivals the heft of the most giant known black holes in the Universe. However, researches have been unable to find any signs of it.

Now, with new, more extended Chandra observations obtained in 2018, astronomers are considering an alternative explanation. They think that the black hole may have been removed from the host galaxy’s centre as a consequence of a merger between two galaxies, to form the observed galaxy. This phenomenon is accompanied by the merger of the central black hole in each galaxy, which creates one enormous black hole. Such a happening produces heavy gravitational waves, which, if stronger in one direction than the other, can send the massive black hole reeling away from the centre of the galaxy in the opposite direction. This is called a recoiling black hole.

Though there are clues that such a black hole merger took place, data collected has shown no evidence of the black hole itself.

You can read more about the ‘recoiling black hole’ and the mystery of the missing supermassive black hole here.

What are your thoughts on the share?