Runaway black hole creating trail of new stars

LOS ANGELES: A huge black hole is tearing through space, leaving behind a 200,000-light-year-long trail of newborn stars, space scientists say.

The supermassive monster -- likely born of a bizarre game of intergalactic billiards -- is rampaging through the blackness and plowing into gas clouds in its path. The incredible forces at play mean this gas is being forged into a contrail of new stars, which have been captured on camera by Nasa´s powerful Hubble Space Telescope.

“We think we´re seeing a wake behind the black hole where the gas cools and is able to form stars,” said Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University. “What we´re seeing is the aftermath. Like the wake behind a ship, we´re seeing the wake behind the black hole.”

Researchers believe gas is probably being blasted and warmed by the motion of the black hole. “Gas in front of it gets shocked because of this supersonic, very high-velocity impact of the black hole moving through the gas,” said van Dokkum.

Scientists believe it began its rampage after being ejected from a celestial menage-a-trois. The working theory is that two galaxies probably merged about 50 million years earlier, bringing together two supermassive black holes, which whirled around each other harmoniously.