Starship Asterisk*

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Zoom into Markarian 177 and SDSS1133 and see how they compare with a
simulated galaxy collision. When the central black holes in these galaxies
combine, a "kick" launches the merged black hole on a wide orbit taking it
far from the galaxy's core. Credit: NASA/GSFC/SVS/L. Blecha (UMD)

HD video and print-resolution images are available from NASA GSFC SVS

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Scientists Use Hawaii Observatories to Study an Exotic Object

An international team of researchers analyzing decades of observations from many facilities, including the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea and the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on Haleakala, as well as NASA’s Swift satellite, has discovered an unusual source of light in a galaxy some 90 million light-years away. The team was led by Michael Koss, who was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa during most of the time the study was ongoing.

The object's curious properties make it a good match for a supermassive black hole ejected from its home galaxy after merging with another giant black hole. But astronomers can't yet rule out an alternative possibility. The source, called SDSS1133, may be the remnant of a massive star that underwent a record period of eruptions before destroying itself in a supernova explosion. ...

Whatever SDSS1133 is, it's persistent. The team was able to detect it in astronomical surveys dating back more than 60 years.

The mystery object is part of the dwarf galaxy Markarian 177, located in the bowl of the Big Dipper, a well-known star pattern within the constellation Ursa Major. Although supermassive black holes usually occupy galactic centers, SDSS1133 is located at least 2,600 light-years from its host galaxy's core. ...

• Monthly Notices of the RAS 445(1) 515 (2014 Nov 21) DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stu1673
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1401.6798 > 27 Jan 2014 (v1), 18 Nov 2014 (v2)