News Astronomy

A supermassive black hole orbiting a bigger one revealed itself with a flash

The two supermassive black holes orbit each other every 12 years

An illustration of a supermassive black hole orbiting an even larger black hole with a field of stars in the background.

A supermassive black hole orbiting an even more supermassive black hole might explain the flashes of light coming from blazar OJ287 (illustrated).

JPL-Caltech/NASA

By Lisa Grossman

A long-suspected black hole may have finally come out of hiding.

A monstrously massive black hole in a distant galaxy probably has a smaller companion that orbits it every 12 years. But that tiny partner has never been detected.