When two supermassive black holes in orbit approach each other, the result is quite “dancing.” NASA has released a video depicting two black holes…dancing “tango.” It is an impressive spectacle that can be seen in the video of a simulation of a merger between two large black holes. Black holes are the most mysterious cosmic bodies, therefore deciphering their function, their mechanisms and the phenomena they produce, can provide answers to scientists’ questions about every aspect of the existence of the Universe.
The rapid technological progress of recent decades has enabled a more in-depth study of black holes. We have now gained evidence about how they behave both with each other and with stars or concentrations of cosmic matter.
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However, scientists still don't have much information about what can happen when two black holes, especially large ones, are involved in a collision process. We know that basically such a collision ends in a merger where a new, even larger black hole is finally formed. But the phenomena produced in this process have not yet been perceived and understood by scientists.
The impressive video released by NASA depicts a simulation of the merger of two black holes. One black hole has a mass about 200 million times that of the Sun and is surrounded by red rings of hot gas called accretion disks. In orbit around it is a second black hole weighing about half that mass, and the rings of gas and dust are depicted in bright blue.
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As shown in the simulation, this is not a violent process, but a kind of cosmic dance develops, where one approaches the other and then moves away, causing different phenomena. Based on this simulation, scientists receive important information about what can happen when two black holes merge, and what is due to and what the data that reaches us by observing such a phenomenon means.
One of the effects that the simulation shows is produced by the merger is that of so-called gravitational lensing. This is a light-bending phenomenon in which the light of a cosmic body closer to the observer – a star or galaxy – acts as a magnifying glass, allowing them to see another cosmic body that is “hiding” behind them at a much greater distance.
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The simulation also reveals the gravitational forces and phenomena that develop during this merger, providing valuable new insights for scientists. But even for non-experts, watching this process is certainly a very interesting and impressive spectacle.
