Black holes slingshot two billion stars
13 May 2026

Black holes slingshot two billion stars

Intellectually Curious

About

JWST infrared imagery reveals a pair of merging supermassive black holes in Abell 402 BCG, totaling about 60 billion solar masses, hardening and flinging billions of stars from the galaxy's center. We unpack how binary hardening works, the tens-of-millions-of-years scouring phase, and why this is a blueprint for our Milky Way–Andromeda future. The episode also explores how the final merger could light up the galaxy's outskirts with new stars and send gravitational waves rippling through spacetime.


Note:  This podcast was AI-generated, and sometimes AI can make mistakes.  Please double-check any critical information.

Sponsored by Embersilk LLC