What to call a group of black holes? Swarm? (29 July 2006)

[nstahl]

1. Any educated guesses how soon two of them will collide? More precisely, how soon we'll become aware of such a collision?

2. One article suggested when Andromeda and tMW collide the center of the galaxies will light up but it didn't indicate we'd have to worry way out here about drastic effects. What effects, other than perhaps detectable gravity waves, do you expect when they do collide?

3. Surely such collisions have happened in the past, but perhaps not "when" people made detailed records. Anyone aware of a historical sky event from the direction of galactic center?

[Qev]

I'm not sure about #1 and #3, but in the case of the likely future collision of our galaxy and Andromeda, we personally (or rather, our solar system) would have little to worry about.

There's some faint possibility that the planetary orbits could be disrupted if the Sun and another star get too close together during the mash-up, or that the Sun and its attendant planets could be ejected from the plane of the galaxy, or away from the galaxy entirely, due to gravitational interactions, but it's unlikely anything would have a direct impact on Earth itself.

[harry]

Hello All

Re: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060729.html


Journey to the Center of the Galaxy

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040411.html

The Galactic Center Radio Arc
This link wil give you an idea of the happenings near the centre
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050403.html


The Milky Way in Stars and Dust
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051004.html

At the Center of the Milky Way
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051023.html

X-Rays from the Galactic Core
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041106.html

As for collision with Andromeda,,,,,,,Trillions of years.

As for collisions of other galaxies there are many

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apo ... g+Galaxies
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsde ... 9/06/text/

A megamerger in space: Two black holes collide
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1120/p01s02-ussc.html

There is lots of info on galaxy collisions. If you need more let me know.
Google

[mdbadger]

I propose "a collusion of black holes."

[ckam]

this is soooo old topic

compare:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050128.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060729.html