Dr. Anna Trindade Falcao (PhD, CUA/Physics 2022, currently at Harvard's Center for Astrophysics) lead a team that used combined Chandra X-ray imaging, Hubble Space Telescope optical imaging and radio observations obtained with the NRAO Very Large Array to explore the possibility of a pair of supermassive black holes in the Seyfert galaxy MCG -3-34-64. The black holes are both generating enormous amounts of energy. Their separation of approximately 300 light years, within a galaxy with a diameter of at least 100,000 light years, makes them the closest pair ever discovered by this technique, and offers intriguing new insight into galaxy evolution.
Dr. Trindade Falcao's team includes IACS director Steve Kraemer, CUA research associate professors James Reeves and Valentina Bratio, adjunct associate professor Henrique Schmitt, and CUA/Physics PhD student Léa Feuillet.
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