New Delhi, Aug 28: Three huge black holes (Black hole – is a location in space that possesses so much gravity that nothing can escape its pull) from three galaxies have merged together to form a triple active galactic nucleus, a more luminous region in the center of a newly discovered galaxy. Black holes are difficult to detect as they do not emit light. So when two galaxies collide their black holes come closer and start consuming gas and dust from the surroundings. Some of the mass is consumed and some is converted to energy and emitted as electromagnetic radiation making it more luminous. This is called AGN or Active Galactic Nuclei. A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics with a researcher from France studied a known interacting galaxy pair, NGC7733, and NGC7734 found a separate galaxy and named it, NGC7733N. Galaxy interaction are a major cause of galaxy evolution. In this case, the two black holes transfer their kinetic energy to the third black hole and merge with each other. Many AGN pairs have been detected but a triple AGN is very rare.
2021/ Astronomy