Binary star on course for black hole merger. The smaller, brighter, hotter star (left), which is 32 times the mass of our Sun, is currently losing mass to its bigger companion (right), which has 55 times the mass of our Sun.
Two massive touching stars in a neighbouring galaxy are on course to become black holes that will eventually crash together, generating waves in the fabric of space-time, according to a new study by researchers at University College London and the University of Potsdam.
The study, accepted for publication in the journal "Astronomy & Astrophysics", looked at a known binary star (two stars orbiting around a mutual centre of gravity), analysing starlight obtained from a range of groundand space-based telescopes. The researchers found that the stars, located in a neighbouring dwarf galaxy called the Small Magellanic Cloud, are in partial contact and swapping material with each other, with one star currently "feeding" off the other. ...
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