The Royal Astronomical Society detected a supermassive blackhole that has shifted its course and is currently facing Earth after reclassifying a galaxy 657 million light-years away from the blue planet. According to experts, this galaxy, known as PBC J2333.9-2343, contains a blazar (active galactic nucleus) with a relativistic jet in its center. (which is also known as a super-massive black hole).
The galaxy has shifted its direction by up to 90 degrees and is now directly heading toward Earth
Blazars are extremely high-energy objects that are thought to be among the most powerful phenomena in the cosmos. According to researchers, the galaxy is now about 4 million light-years across — nearly 40 times the size of the Milky Way. Their findings, published on March 21, show that the galaxy, which was previously categorized as a radio galaxy, has shifted its direction by up to 90 degrees and is now directly heading toward Earth.
“We started to study this galaxy as it showed peculiar properties,” spokesperson, Dr. Lorena Hernández-García said. “Our hypothesis was that the relativistic jet of its supermassive black hole had changed its direction, and to confirm that idea we had to carry out a lot of observations.” “The fact that we see the nucleus is not feeding the lobes anymore means that they are very old. They are the relics of past activity, whereas the structures located closer to the nucleus represent younger and active jets.”
Scientists aren’t sure what caused the shift in direction or how it might affect our galaxy. They believe PBC J2333.9-2343 may have collided with another galaxy, forcing it to change course.
Notably, the Earth is not solely threatened by this black hole. Three near-Earth asteroids (NEA) were identified in the inner solar system, according to new data published in The Astronomical Journal, and might represent a major threat to Earth.
