Astronomy:SDSS J1430+2303

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Short description: Galaxy with an active nucleus
SDSS J1430+2303
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationBoötes
Right ascension 14h 30m 16.04s
Declination+23° 03′ 44.5″
Redshift0.08105
Distance339 Mpc (1.11 Gly)
Characteristics
TypeSy
Other designations
PGC 214276, SDSS J143016.05+230344.4, 2MASS J14301603+2303445

SDSS J1430+2303 (or SDSS J143016.05+230344.4) is a galaxy with an active galactic nucleus that has been claimed to be undergoing a periodic brightness variability that is speeding up. One explanation for the purported behavior is that it could be a supermassive black hole binary. Initial trajectory models suggested the pair could be merging either before the end of 2022 or, alternatively, no later than 2025.[1][2]

The original claim of periodic variations was made in January 2022 in an unrefereed preprint, posted to the ArXiv server, that has not yet been published in a refereed journal as of early 2023. The discovery team later published X-ray observations of the object, finding evidence of strong X-ray variability on timescales of a few days.[3] However, subsequent follow-up observations by two independent groups did not find evidence of continued periodic brightness variations, casting doubt on the binary black hole hypothesis.[4][5]

Galaxy

SDSS J1430+2303 is a Seyfert 1 galaxy, an elliptical galaxy with a mass of 150 billion solar masses.[2]

SDSS J1430+2303 is 1.05 × 1022 km from Earth (or 1.11 billion light years, 339 Mpc) with a redshift of 0.08105.[2]

It has an Hα line emission, blue-shifted by 2400 km/s, relative to other emission lines from the galaxy.[2]

An estimate of a supermassive black hole at its center is 40 million solar masses.[2]

References

  1. Clery, Daniel (1 February 2022) (in en). Crash of the titans: imminent merger of giant black holes predicted. 375. https://www.science.org/content/article/crash-titans-imminent-merger-giant-black-holes-predicted. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Jiang, Ning; Yang, Huan; Wang, Tinggui; Zhu, Jiazheng; Lyu, Zhenwei; Dou, Liming; Wang, Yibo; Wang, Jianguo; Pan, Zhen; Liu, Hui; Shu, Xinwen; Zheng, Zhenya (27 January 2022). "Tick-Tock: The Imminent Merger of a Supermassive Black Hole Binary". arXiv:2201.11633 [astro-ph.HE].
  3. Dou, Liming; Jiang, Ning; Wang, Tinggui; Shu, Xinwen; Yang, Huan; Pan, Zhen; Zhu, Jiazheng; Tao, An et al. (9 September 2022). "X-ray view of a merging supermassive black hole binary candidate SDSS J1430+2303: Results from the first ~200 days of observations". Astronomy & Astrophysics 665 (September 2022): 7. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202244450. Bibcode2022A&A...665L...3D. https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2022/09/aa44450-22/aa44450-22.html. Retrieved 16 September 2022. 
  4. Dotti, Massimo; Bonetti, Matteo; Rigamonti, Fabio; Bortolas, Elisa; Fossati, Matteo; Decarli, Roberto; Covino, Stefano; Lupi, Alessandro et al. (January 2023). "Optical follow-up of the tick-tock massive black hole binary candidate". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 518 (3): 4172–4179. doi:10.1093/mnras/stac3344. Bibcode2023MNRAS.518.4172D. 
  5. Masterson, Megan; Kara, Erin; Pasham, Dheeraj; D'Orazio, Daniel; Walton, Dominic; Fabian, Andrew; Lucchini, Matteo; Remillard, Ronald et al. (14 March 2023). "Unusual Hard X-Ray Flares Caught in NICER Monitoring of the Binary Supermassive Black Hole Candidate AT2019cuk/Tick Tock/SDSS J1430+2303". The Astrophysical Journal Letters 945 (2): L34. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acbea9. Bibcode2023ApJ...945L..34M.