Noam Libeskind

Centaurus A and M83, the two largest galaxies in our neighborhood, are locked in a slow waltz. Once thought to be independent, it’s now clear they’re held by gravity and drifting together, destined to merge billions of years from now. It’s the same script that awaits the Milky Way and Andromeda.

At the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the massive dwarf galaxy nearest to us, the conductor is invisible. Astronomers have long suspected that a supermassive black hole is hiding there, but telescopes catch no radiation from it. It is as if an orchestra were playing without a baton: stars whirl, gas glows, and the source of gravity directing this dance stays in the shadows.