NASA · Featured release
A Supermassive Black Hole Duo
Chandra, Hubble, and VLA observations resolve compact structures consistent with a candidate pair of accreting supermassive black holes separated by roughly 100 parsecs.
Image: Artist’s concept · NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
The discovery
Resolving activity on a hundred-parsec scale
Chandra resolves two hard X-ray and Fe Kα peaks in the nucleus of MCG-03-34-64. Their approximately 100-parsec separation, together with compact Hubble and VLA structure, supports the interpretation of a close pair of active supermassive black holes. A single active nucleus plus shocked interstellar-medium emission remains viable; deeper Chandra imaging and resolved nuclear gas kinematics are needed to confirm the dual-AGN interpretation.
Hubble view
An active, dust-rich galactic nucleus
The optical morphology places the compact X-ray and radio structures within the dust-rich galactic nucleus. Their relative positions provide an independent test of whether the X-ray peaks trace distinct accreting sources rather than structure around a single nucleus.
Multiwavelength evidence
Multiple tracers resolve the same nuclear scale
The candidate dual-AGN interpretation rests on the agreement between X-ray, optical, and radio positions and separations, not on any single waveband.
Supporting measurements
Radio morphology and X-ray spectroscopy
The radio and spectral measurements add independent constraints on the nature of the compact active components.