Galactic Double Trouble

Hey Space Placers!

I have been offline the past two days enjoying thunderstorms, the sounds of frogs at night, the flight of fireflies and the intense green that only central Virginia trees can produce.

Markarian 739 in visible light

While this may look like a smiley face in space, it is a galactic merger taking place that involves two supermassive black holes. 

As stated by NASA,  "The galaxy, which is known as Markarian 739 or NGC 3758, lies 425 million light-years away toward the constellation Leo. Only about 11,000 light-years separate the two cores, each of which contains a black hole gorging on infalling gas."

Take a look at this link and see a very cool video:  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/monster-black-holes.html

Sky Guy in VA

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