Two Supermassive Black Holes May Be on The Very Brink of Collision

Mrk 501, a blazar about half a billion light-years away, may host two supermassive black holes.

New analysis points to the pair because of the galaxy's unusual light.

Silke Britzen and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy led the study.

They reported a double jet system, the first directly imaged in a blazar core.

If confirmed, it would be the first observed merger between supermassive black holes.