Christopher S. Reynolds

The galaxy MCG+11-11-032 is relatively close to us: its light takes about 150 million years to reach us. At its center, like in most large galaxies, sits a supermassive black hole. But a few years ago, astronomers began to suspect: what if there are two? The clue came from the X-ray spectrum.

Cosmic black holes at the centers of galaxies are like giant banyan trees: their aerial root‑filaments stretch for kiloparsecs to harvest nourishing matter. For decades astronomers have debated: how does cooling gas from cluster atmospheres fall into the sphere of influence of a supermassive hole?