Black hole expelled from its parent galaxy

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Ejection from the nucleus: for the first time in nature astronomers have observed a supermassive black which - propelled by gravitational waves - leaves its parent galaxy. The illustration depicts this scenario. Image: MPEHST-Archive
Ejection from the nucleus: for the first time in nature, astronomers have observed a supermassive black, which - propelled by gravitational waves - leaves its parent galaxy. The illustration depicts this scenario. Image: MPE/HST-Archive

By an enormous burst of gravitational waves that accompanies the merger of two black holes the newly formed black hole was ejected from its galaxy. This extreme ejection event, which had been predicted by theorists, has now been observed in nature for the first time. The team led by Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) have thereby opened a new window into observational astrophysics.


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