Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com Newsgroups: sci.physics Subject: Re: Doomed quasar is heading for a powerful explosion Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 18:26:51 -0000 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 35 Sender: Jim Pennino Message-ID: References: Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="db4120ef82bbc153014637d4cd15a795"; logging-data="24343"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+UtuMSFpp1eNhRggZ3VCBk" User-Agent: tin/2.2.1-20140504 ("Tober an Righ") (UNIX) (SunOS/5.10 (i86pc)) Cancel-Lock: sha1:kQvVsOVYGA+eaxVTzn92vH6+j9o= Xref: csiph.com sci.physics:531829 Sam Wormley wrote: > Doomed quasar is heading for a powerful explosion >> http://phys.org/news/2015-11-doomed-quasar-powerful-explosion.html > > >> PKS 1302-102 is one of the few known quasars with a pair of black >> holes within its accretion disc. It is also a curious case for >> astronomers as it will produce a powerful explosion when these two >> black holes merge. The scientists trying to determine the scale of >> this merger estimate that it could result in an enormous release of >> energy. >> >> "The result will be an enormous release of energy, roughly equivalent >> to millions of supernovae, in the form of gravitational waves," >> Matthew Graham of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), >> one of the co-discoverers of PKS 1302-102, told Phys.org. >> >> The quasar is in its final phase of the merging process. It could >> help us predict what the final stages of a black hole merger look >> like or how long the process might take. This is the so-called "final >> parsec problem", yet unsolved, as all theoretical models failed to >> explain the process. >> >> Graham and his colleagues at Caltech, using the Catalina Real-Time >> Transient Survey, detected a strong, smooth periodic signal when >> observing PKS 1302-102 in optical and infrared light. Periodic signal >> was something that scientists haven't seen before in a quasar, so >> they suggest that it means the presence of a pair of supermassive >> black holes. Oh no!!! -- Jim Pennino