A pair of supermassive black holes about to collide

An international team of researchers, with the participation of the University of Aveiro (UA), has detected for the first time a pair of supermassive black holes in a very close orbit through the observation of a second jet at the center of the galaxy Markarian 501. The study is co-authored by Héctor Olivares, a researcher from Gr@v (CIDMA, UA), and presents direct evidence of two of these extreme objects in a final stage before they merge.

Portuguese (University of Aveiro): https://www.ua.pt/pt/noticias/9/97291
English (Max Plank Institute for Radioastronomy): https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/pressreleases/2026/first-close-pair-of-supermassive-black-holes-detected
Scientific paper: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag291