                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2022 June 5

                      Two Black Holes Dancing in 3C 75
     Image Credit: X-Ray: NASA/CXC/D. Hudson, T. Reiprich et al. (AIfA);
                            Radio: NRAO/VLA/ NRL

   Explanation: What's happening at the center of active galaxy 3C 75? The
   two bright sources at the center of this composite x-ray (blue)/ radio
   (pink) image are co-orbiting supermassive black holes powering the
   giant radio source 3C 75. Surrounded by multimillion degree x-ray
   emitting gas, and blasting out jets of relativistic particles the
   supermassive black holes are separated by 25,000 light-years. At the
   cores of two merging galaxies in the Abell 400 galaxy cluster they are
   some 300 million light-years away. Astronomers conclude that these two
   supermassive black holes are bound together by gravity in a binary
   system in part because the jets' consistent swept back appearance is
   most likely due to their common motion as they speed through the hot
   cluster gas at about 1200 kilometers per second. Such spectacular
   cosmic mergers are thought to be common in crowded galaxy cluster
   environments in the distant universe. In their final stages, the
   mergers are expected to be intense sources of gravitational waves.

                    Tomorrow's picture: Milky Way doomed
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

