The smaller black hole, with a mass of about 150 million suns, orbits its larger companion, with a mass of 18 billion suns, at near the speed of light.
It’s this rapid dance that sparked the bright flare from this system, according to a new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in March.
The recorded burst, which astronomers observed in February 2022, occurred when the smaller black hole crashed into a disk of gas surrounding the larger black hole, the study’s scientists said.
All that has happened in our backyard and we haven’t been told. I would love to have information prior to such occrance.