NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has observed a supermassive black hole that is believed to have broken away from its galaxy and is now moving through the universe, creating new stars in its wake.
NASA researchers believe that the black hole is the result of two galaxies merging about 50 million years ago, and then colliding with a third galaxy. It is thought that one of the original black holes from the three galaxies was thrown out of the constellation and is now racing through the universe. As the supermassive black hole, estimated to have a mass equivalent to 20 million suns, moves through space, new stars are created in a 200,000-light-year-long band behind it. NASA describes this as follows:
Rather than gobbling up stars ahead of it, like a cosmic Pac-Man, the speedy black hole is plowing into gas in front of it to trigger new star formation along a narrow corridor. The black hole is streaking too fast to take time for a snack. Nothing like it has ever been seen before, but it was captured accidentally by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
The supermassive black hole has a speed that would allow it to travel between Earth and the Moon in 14 minutes, according to NASA. However, it is very, very far from our galaxy, so we do not need to worry about being eaten by it.
Above is a clip from NASA where they talk a bit more about the newly discovered supermassive black hole that is racing through the universe on its own.
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