Sometimes, astrophysicists studying supermassive black holes expect to find binary systems - two supermassive black holes orbiting each other - at the hearts of some galaxies.
Figuring out whether a galaxy has one or two black holes in its center isn't as easy as cracking an egg and examining the yolk. Measuring how often these binary supermassive black holes form can help researchers understand what happens to galaxies when they merge.
Binary black holes release energy in the form of gravitational waves - ripples in space-time that specialized observatories can detect, according to Einstein's general relativity theory.
The two black holes at the center of merging galaxies may live for up to hundreds of millions of years before eventually merging into one, highlighting the complex natural processes during galaxy evolution.
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