The recent merger observation was made by an astronomical team in May 2023 using the Webb Telescopes NIRSpec-IFU instrument.
), in a galaxy system called ZS7.
The teams full paper on the discovery waspublishedtoday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
An image of the black hole merger.Image: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, J. Dunlop, D. Magee, P. G. Pérez-González, H. Übler, R. Maiolino, et. al
As black holes merge, theysend out gravitational shockwavesthat squeeze and stretch spacetime over billions of light-years.
It will most likely make us adjust our models for LISA rates in this mass range.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
A field image of space that contains the galaxy system ZS7.Image:ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, J. Dunlop, D. Magee, P. G. Pérez-González, H. Übler, R. Maiolino, et. al
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Are We Inside a Black Hole?
Left to right: A field containing ZS7, a smaller region in the field, and ZS7.Image:ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, J. Dunlop, D. Magee, P. G. Pérez-González, H. Übler, R. Maiolino, et. al
