Boffins have spotted two ‘dancing galaxies’ coming together to form one super galaxy billions of years ago.
A team of international researchers looked at quasars, which are formed by galaxies colliding and become one of the brightest and most powerful things in the universe. A quasar is known to shine 100,000 times brighter than the Milky Way.
Scientists think galaxies colliding causes gas to fall towards a supermassive black hole and tried to test this theory with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Boffins used the radio telescope to discover what is believed to be the earliest known pair of “close” quasars.
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The galaxy pair supposedly existed in the first 900million years of the universe and was discovered by Yoshiki Matsuoka, at Ehime University in Japan, using the Subaru Telescope.
Further research says the two galaxies are linked together by dust and gas, which suggests they are in the process of merging.
Science Daily explained: “The ALMA observations also allowed the team to measure the amount of gas, the material for new star formation. The team found that the two galaxies are very rich in gas, suggesting that in addition to more vigorous quasar activity in the future, the merger will also trigger a rapid increase in star formation, known as a “starburst”.”
Researchers believe the starburst and quasar activity indicates the two are about to collide and cause a “monster galaxy”.
Earlier this month, astronomers said they believe they may have witnessed a massive black hole wake up and become active in a far-away galaxy. The cosmic event was first spotted in 2019 when a US telescope detected an “unusual brightness” around 300 million light-years away.
Data showed the “calm” galaxy in the constellation Virgo – in the same area as the monster galaxy – had mysteriously started to glow. This “unprecedented behaviour” was found by an international team to be gradually growing brighter and radiating more light – unlike any other typical event seen before.
They believe the sudden brightness is being caused by a massive black hole waking up at the heart of the galaxy and “feasting” on the surrounding gas. If the findings are validated in further studies, it would be the first time scientists have observed a black hole becoming active in real time.
Paula Sanchez Seez, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Germany, said: “This behaviour is unprecedented. Imagine you’ve been observing a distant galaxy for years, and it always seemed calm and inactive.
“Suddenly, its core starts showing dramatic changes in brightness, unlike any typical events we’ve seen before.”
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