Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2024

34 MAY-JUNE 2024 ASTRO PUBLISHING published paper in The Astrophysi- cal Journal , a team of astronomers have presented new insight into this question. The team used data from the Gemini North telescope in Hawai’i, one half of the Interna- tional Gemini Observatory oper- ated by NSF’s NOIRLab, which is by NOIRLab − Josie Fenske N early every massive galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its center. When two galaxies merge, their black holes can form a binary pair, meaning they are in a bound orbit with one another. It’s hypothesized that these binaries are fated to eventu- ally merge, but this has never been observed. The question of whether such an event is possible has been a topic of discussion amongst as- tronomers for decades. In a recently Astronomers measure heaviest black hole pair ever found