This week, a team of local astronomers discovered a trio of closely orbiting supermassive black holes in a galaxy more than 4 billion light years away from earth.
This week, a team of local astronomers discovered a trio of closely orbiting supermassive black holes in a galaxy more than 4 billion light years away from earth.
Rhodes-based astronomer Oleg Smirnov has called the discovery an "important and exciting step for the astronomy community"
The discovery has stirred up excitement within the astronomical community as it suggests that close-pair black hole systems of this sort, which are the extreme of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, are more common than previously thought.
“This is important as these are expected to emit gravitational waves; ripples in the fabric of space-time predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity,” explained research team leader, UCT's Dr Roger Deane.
Deane headed the research; he was aided by a team which included research associates from Rhodes University, Gianni Bernardi and Ian Heywood.
Bernardi and Heywood are active in developing the technology necessary to operations of intricate observations that lead to discoveries such as the triple black hole system.
The discovery was made possible with the use of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an international project aimed at building the world’s largest radio telescope with one square kilometre of data collecting area.
According to SKA SA, in order to discover the two inner holes of the triple system, the research team made use of the Very Long Baseline Interferometry Technique (VLBT).
“This technique combines the signals from large radio antennas separated by up to 10 000 kilometres to see detail 50 times finer than that possible with the Hubble Space Telescope.” said SKA SA.
“Both the MeerKAT (the predecessor to the SKA) and the SKA are aiming to detect gravitational waves from much closer pairs of black holes.
"This discovery begins to shed light on just how much gravitational radiation there will be,” said Deane, who came up with the idea for the project while completing his PhD at Oxford University.
A great deal of funding came from the South African government.
The project will serve to boost South Africa to a position of leadership in the international radio astronomy community, Deane said.
“The government has put South African radio astronomy firmly on the global map with its strong support and recognition of our geographic advantages.
"I believe the iconic MeerKAT and SKA projects will result in South Africa becoming a global leader and destination for radio astronomy.” said Deane.
Research Chair at the Rhodes Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques & Technologies, Smirnov said the close proximity and relative quick discovery proves that many more discoveries can be expected.
“On one hand the black hole systems are such exotic objects… orbiting at such a speed and at such a close proximity.
"On the other hand, it was found on the sixth try which show that there are plenty more out there.” said Smirnov.
