Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics.
James Webb Space TelescopeJames Webb Space Telescope confirms 1st 'runaway' supermassive black hole rocketing through home galaxy at 2.2 million mph: 'It boggles the mind!'Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsSign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.
Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!Space.com's Sci-Fi Reader's Club. Read a sci-fi short story every month and join a virtual community of fellow science fiction fans!When the beacons were lit in"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," the city of Gondor called to Rohan for aid, spelling doom for Sauron and his legions. However, when the beacons of supermassive black hole systems named for these locations in J.R.R. Tolkien's"Lord of the Rings" novels were lit up, it was exceptionally good news for scientists.binaries Gondor, officially designated SDSS J0729+4008, and Rohan, SDSS J1536+0411, were discovered by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves using a new technique that uses the background hum of ripples in space called"The logic behind this is that supermassive black hole binaries, which spiral together to lead to collisions and mergers, emit gravitational waves of increasing frequency as their orbits shrink, creating a background hum of gravitational waves. The resultant mergers seem to be five times more likely to be found inHave gravitational waves provided the first hint of primordial black holes born during the Big Bang?Supermassive black holes at the heart of merging galaxies will circle closer and closer until they come together, releasing a titanic wave of energy. That makes quasars beacons that can indicate the unification of supermassive black holes. If one of these beacons radiates gravitational waves like the lit beacons of Gondor, it indicates binary black holes are present. Thus, this detection technique offers scientists a method to create a cosmic map of these merging titans. "Our finding provides the scientific community with the first concrete benchmarks for developing and testing detection protocols for individual, continuous gravitational wave sources," NANOGrav team member Chiara MingarelliMingarelli and colleagues hunted for supermassive black hole binaries using their new approach in 114 Active Galactic Nuclei , the bright central regions of galaxies where supermassive black holes are ravenously feasting on surrounding gas and dust. Mingarelli explained the reason for the unusual name choice for these black hole systems:"The names come from both people and pop culture. Rohan was first, for Rohan Shivakumar, the Yale student who first analyzed it, and Gondor was next, because, well — the beacons were lit!"Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors NANOGrav, which first detected a gravitational wave background in 2023, will spend the coming months hunting and identifying supermassive black hole binaries. The team thinks that even a relatively small catalog of black hole mergers could help create a gravitational wave background map. This research could also help scientists better understand galaxy mergers, the physics of black holes and the nature of gravitational waves themselves. "Our work has laid out a roadmap for a systemic supermassive black hole binary detection framework," Mingarelli said."We carried out a systematic, targeted search, developed a rigorous protocol — and two targets rose to the top as examples motivating follow-up." Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.Excited for The Mandalorian and Grogu later this year? Walmart is offering an Exclusive preorder price for the Lego New Republic X-Wing Starfighter set SpaceX launches Crew-12 astronauts to short-staffed International Space Station. 'We have left the Earth, but the Earth has not left us.'
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