Merging supermassive black holes emit the most energy of all

Back in 2020, NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory made history by announcing the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/03/02/astronomers-find-the-biggest-explosion-ever-seen-in-the-entire-universe/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">most energetic explosive event ever discovered in the Universe</a>. In a galaxy cluster some 390 million light-years away, a supermassive black hole emitted a jet that created an enormous cavity in the intergalactic space of that galaxy cluster. The total amount of energy required to create this observed phenomenon? 5 × 10⁵⁴ J: more energy to occur in any singular event ever seen since humanity first began studying the Universe. Only the Big Bang itself, which contains all of the energy within the entire Universe by definition, was more energetic. But there’s another class of event that definitely exists in the Universe that can output even more energy in a shorter amount of time: the merger of two supermassive black holes. Although we’ve never seen such an event, it’s only a matter of time and technology until one reveals itself to us. When it does, the old record-holder will be shattered, possibly by an enormous amount. Here’s how. <a href="https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/merging-supermassive-black-holes-emit-the-most-energy-of-all-eb747528d083">Visit Now</a>