A region of the Andromeda galaxy, as imaged by Hubble's Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury,... [+] along with the unusual, X-ray emitting object J0045+41, now known to be an ultra-distant binary supermassive black hole.
NASA/CXC/University of Washington/ESA
Einstein’s theory of General Relativity has withstood every test for more than a century.
The General Relativity picture of curved spacetime, where matter and energy determine how orbiting,... [+] inspiraling systems evolve over time, has made successful predictions that no other theory can match. Ripples in spacetime can be generated by fast orbiting stars (neutron stars, white dwarfs or black holes).
NASA
From the bending of starlight to orbital decay, Einstein’s predictions for spacetime’s behavior have never failed.
As two neutron stars orbit each other, Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts orbital... [+] decay, and the emission of gravitational radiation. In the final stages of a merger -- never before observed in gravitational waves -- the amplitude should spike so high that LIGO could, conceivably, detect them.
NASA (L), Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy / Michael Kramer
Since 2015, the final stages of black hole and neutron star inspirals and mergers have been observed directly.
With numerous black hole-black hole mergers under its belt and even a neutron star-neutron star... [+] collision, gravitational wave astronomy has blossomed into a bona fide science over the past two years.
LIGO-Virgo/Frank Elavsky/Northwestern University
The holy grail of black hole mergers, however, would be an inspiraling system that we could monitor consistently throughout the decay process, culminating in a merger.
While numerous black holes and even black hole pairs have been detected, we’d have to wait millions... [+] of years for any of them to merge.
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Immler and H. Krimm
Neutron stars are no better; the binaries we’ve found won’t result in a collision for some 80 million years.
Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. Binary neutron star systems inspiral and merge... [+] as well, but the closest orbiting pair we’ve found won’t merge until nearly 100 million years have passed.
NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University / A. Simonnet
Over in Andromeda, the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way, a number of unusual systems have been found.
Stars of all ages, types, and orbital configurations, including very tight binary stars, have been... [+] discovered via Hubble’s observations of Andromeda, the largest galaxy in the local group.
Full Hubble Field: NASA/ESA/J. Dalcanton, et al. & R. Gendler; Wide Optical Field: Robert Gendler
One of them, J0045+41, was originally thought to be two stars orbiting one another with a period of just 80 days.
61 Cygni was the first star to have its parallax measured, but also is a difficult case due to its... [+] large proper motion. These two images, stacked in red and blue and taken almost exactly one year apart, show this binary star system's fantastic speed. Astronomers originally thought that J0045+41 would be another such binary star system, but X-ray observations led to an even more peculiar conclusion.
Lorenzo2 of the forums at http://forum.astrofili.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=27548
X-ray data ruled out the possibility of a binary system, while follow-up optical data demanded these... [+] be two black holes. Combined, they must be supermassive in origin, and at a great distance.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Washington/T.Dorn-Wallenstein et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/J. Dalcanton, et al. & R. Gendler
The most massive black hole binary signal ever seen: OJ 287. This tight binary black hole system... [+] takes on the order of ~11-12 years to complete an orbit. The newly discovered system, J0045+41, orbits approximately 50 times as rapidly.
S. Zola & NASA/JPL
Powerful relativistic effects will cause this orbit to decay, leading to a merger within 1,000 years.
An artistic representation of the configuration of the three LISA spacecraft, flying in formation,... [+] with two of the laser arms active. Given the masses and orbital parameters of any system, we can predict when a merger will occur. The supermassive black hole pair J0045+41, based on current data, may merge as soon as 350 years from now, and a space-based gravitational wave observatory will be uniquely poised to see it.
AEI/MM/exozet
A long-period space-based gravitational wave detector would see the orbit, inspiral, and merger as it unfolds: a cosmic first.
Mostly Mute Monday tells the astronomical story of an astronomical picture, object, or phenomenon in images, visuals, and no more than 200 words
Follow me on Twitter. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
