Collisions between stellar-mass black holes may occur in the violent environments created around their larger, feeding counterparts, according to a new study.
Supermassive black holes, which are found at the hearts of most, if not all, galaxies can grow to masses millions or even billions of times that of the sun. Some of them are surrounded by disks of gas and dust that are heated to tremendous temperatures, causing them to glow brightly. While some of this matter is funneled to the feasting central supermassive black hole, other stuff is channeled by powerful magnetic fields to the poles of the black hole, where it is blasted out at near-light speed, also generating powerful emissions of light.
