Two stars discovered orbiting black hole – a phenomenon never seen before

Physicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the California Institute of Technology have reported the discovery of the first triple black hole system. The formation, located 8,000 light-years away, consists of a black hole and two stars and may be the first convincing evidence of the alternative birth of these gravitational objects.

Until recently, astrophysicists noted that black holes are usually not alone in the Universe. It is relatively common to find them forming a binary system with another black hole or single star. The stars that accompany them may be in the process of being consumed or orbiting them in perfect balance.

There is no history in the cosmic record of a triple system like the one recently discovered by scientists at MIT and Caltech. In their study, they describe a central black hole consuming a small star, spiraling every 6.5 days. The second star, completing the trio, is much further away. According to their calculations, the distance to this star is a hundred times greater than the distance between Pluto and the Sun, and it orbits the black hole every 70,000 years.

The main object, V404 Cygni, is one of the first cosmic structures recognized as a black hole. It is also one of the most studied structures because science knows exactly where it is and what signals it emits. Researchers admit that the discovery of two stars orbiting it was an accident.

They initially looked for undocumented black holes in the Milky Way. While viewing images of the area where V404 Cygni is located, they noticed two anomalous spots of light very close to each other: the first appeared to be a star in the process of being devoured. The second and last part of the trio. Scientists confirmed this using data from the GAIA satellite, which accurately maps the movements of visible stars.

“We see two stars following each other because they are connected by this weak gravitational chain. “So it must be a triple system,” said Kevin Burge, study author and member of MIT’s physics department.

Evidence for the theory of direct collapse

To explain the strange connection between the three objects, physicists turned to the recent hypothesis of the birth of black holes. Not all of them arise from the violent death of giant stars; some are formed “quietly”, without the need for a nuclear explosion.

If V404 Cygni is a black hole caused by a supernova, all nearby objects would have been ejected from the start. There shouldn’t be a slightly connected outer star there. Instead, when you consider the “direct collapse” theory, which holds that the star that gave rise to V404 Cygni simply collapsed on its own, the cosmic trio makes sense. The team believes that their study can be considered the first evidence of alternative birth of black holes.