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NASA’s Hubble and Chandra Uncover a Supermassive Black Hole Duo

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 Like two Sumo wrestlers locked in combat, the closest confirmed pair of supermassive black holes has been observed in close proximity. Situated about 300 light-years apart, these black holes were detected using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Buried deep within two merging galaxies, they are powered by infalling gas and dust, shining brightly as active galactic nuclei (AGN).

This AGN pair is the closest ever detected in the local universe through multiwavelength (visible and X-ray) observations. While dozens of 'dual' black holes have been found before, their separations are usually much larger than those in the galaxy MCG-03-34-64. Radio telescopes have detected an even closer pair of binary black holes, but they haven't been confirmed in other wavelengths.

AGN binaries like these were more common in the early universe when galaxy collisions occurred more frequently. This discovery offers a rare, up-close look at a nearby example, about 800 million light-years away.



The discovery was unexpected. Hubble’s high-resolution imaging revealed three optical diffraction spikes within the host galaxy, indicating a dense concentration of glowing oxygen gas in a very small area. 'We weren’t expecting this,' said Anna Trindade Falcão from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, lead author of the paper published in The Astrophysical Journal. 'This is rare in the nearby universe and suggested something unusual was happening inside the galaxy.'

Diffraction spikes are artifacts caused when light from a small region in space bends around a telescope’s mirror.

Falcão's team then used the Chandra observatory to examine the galaxy in X-ray light. 'In the X-ray band, we saw two powerful, separated sources of high-energy emission, matching the bright optical points observed with Hubble. These clues led us to conclude we were likely observing two closely spaced supermassive black holes,' Falcão explained.


To support their findings, the researchers analyzed archival radio data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico. The energetic black hole pair also emits powerful radio waves. 'When you see bright light across optical, X-rays, and radio wavelengths, many possibilities can be ruled out, leaving close black holes as the only explanation. When all the data comes together, it reveals the picture of the AGN duo,' explained Falcão.

The third bright light source observed by Hubble remains a mystery, requiring further data to determine its origin. It could be gas shocked by a jet of ultra-fast plasma ejected from one of the black holes, similar to a garden hose stream hitting a pile of sand.

'We wouldn’t see these details without Hubble’s incredible resolution,' said Falcão.

These two supermassive black holes were originally at the centers of their own galaxies. A galaxy merger brought them close together, and they will continue spiraling inward until they eventually merge, possibly in 100 million years, generating gravitational waves that will ripple through space and time.

While LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) has detected waves from stellar-mass black hole mergers, the longer wavelengths from supermassive black hole mergers are beyond its reach. The future LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, led by ESA (European Space Agency) with NASA’s collaboration, will capture these longer wavelengths. The mission is planned for launch in the mid-2030s.

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program, while the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory oversees science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Northrop Grumman was the prime contractor for the spacecraft.

The Hubble Space Telescope, a collaborative project between NASA and ESA, has been operational for over 30 years, contributing groundbreaking discoveries that enhance our understanding of the universe. Managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Hubble science operations are conducted by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

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