- Scientists have theorized that an unusual light signal they're seeing from quasar PG 1302-102 -- essentially a black hole emitting light from the superheated particles swirling around its gravitational drain -- is being caused by the cosmic dance between two black holes in the system, each located less than the length of our solar system apart.
- If the theory is correct, the collision would rip apart the galaxy in which they're floating and release gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space-time predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity
- Unfortunately, astronomers hoping to witness such an event are out of luck, as the predicted union won't take place for about another million years -- a long time in human standards, but not cosmic ones.
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