The cosmos will shake! Astronomers discover black holes on collision course

If the collision of small celestial objects against Earth is already capable of causing real crashes (you may recall the meteorite explosion that hit the Chelyabinsk region of Russia in 2013), then imagine what the consequences would be. a bump between two black holes! Because, according to Bryan Nelson of Mother Nature Network, there is a possibility that this event will happen in a few thousand years.

According to Bryan, a team of California Institute of Technology astronomers - Caltech - has identified a pair of supermassive black holes in the Virgo Constellation that is about to crash. As the scientists explained, the two are just over 320 billion kilometers from each other and, although it seems a lot astronomically, this distance is incredibly short.

Cosmic encounter

According to Bryan, the distance between the pair of black holes equals the distance between our Sun and the Oort Cloud - about 1 light year only - and astronomers have never been so close to tracking the approach between them. two black holes in the proportions of those discovered by the team.

Astronomers have explained that it is difficult to accurately predict the consequences of the collision, but they believe it could result in the release of an energy equivalent to the explosion of 100 million supernovae. Moreover, the crash could generate a massive tsunami of gravitational waves that would spread through space and could shake the very fabric of spacetime that makes up the universe.

Just to give you an idea, if a similar event occurred in our galaxy, all Milky Way stars - including the Sun and all planets in the Solar System - would be struck and thrown into the dark abyss of the cosmos as if they were. the debris of a major hurricane.

Help!

According to Bryan, there is no reason to panic, because besides the Virgin Constellation lying millions of light-years away from Earth, the collision between the two black holes should only take place in about 100, 000 years. This means that while in astronomical terms this is a blink of time, you won't be around to see what will happen!

However, while astronomers know they will not witness the collision itself, they will be able to follow the approach of the two black holes and seize this unique opportunity to test various theories and predictions about the cosmos that can only be tested in extreme situations such as of the collision.

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