Can one black hole eat another black hole?

[ThomWV]

Can one black hole eat (for lack of a better word) another black hole - is that the origin of what I see refereed to as a 'super massive black hole'? I'm just trying to understand something, any explanation you might care to provide will certainly be appreciated.

[graywarrior]

1. I ain't touching that with a 6 inch pole

[ThomWV]

2. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to elicit snide remarks

I'd really like to know.

[graywarrior]

4. But I'm 12!

Sorry.

[madinmaryland]

10. It's what happens when you free the duck!!

:hi:

[graywarrior]

11. Seriously?

Qwak

[stuntcat]

3. I saw Yes.

but I'm sorry, I have no explanation!!!

Pretty sure this is a Yes though.. I mean I'd stake a lot on it. Final answer :D

[Avalux]

5. They'd combine....

one wouldn't 'eat' the other; two would 'combine' to form a super massive black hole. These are thought to be the center of galaxies, made up of two or more dead stars. :hi:

[ThomWV]

6. I guess that is what I really meant to ask - but if its possible that's enough.

Thank you, I knew I didn't phrase it well. Maybe I should have asked that if two came too close would they merge into one or something like that.

[Avalux]

9. Think of it this way -

Black holes have mass and size; if two are close together, the one with the greater mass would theoretically take on the mass of the lesser, and become larger in size.

[stuntcat]

7. mmmmmassive

Yes, this sounds right.

[Inchworm]

8. Some NASA reading

It has a quicktime movie too

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/gwave.html

:hi:

[csziggy]

12. From NASA - Ask an Astrophysicist

The Question
(Submitted July 11, 2001)

What would happen if two Black Holes merged? Would superpositioning of the gravitational fields make the event horizon radii shrink?

The Answer
The size of the event horizon is determined solely by the mass and spin (if it happens to be spinning) of the black hole. If two were to orbit each other (or any two massive bodies such as neutron stars) a lot of energy in the form of gravity waves would be emitted. This will leak energy out of the system, until the two objects merge. It would appear that the smaller one was swallowed by the larger, but it really is a merger around their common center of mass, and the event horizon would grow according to the new higher mass.

Also there is more information on this at:

http://www.astronomical.org/oldsite/portal/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=141
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/BlackHoleAnat.html
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/GravWaves.html
http://lisa.jpl.nasa.gov/SCIENCE/mbh.html

Two experiments which hope to detect and confirm this can be seen at:

http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/LIGO.html
http://lisa.jpl.nasa.gov/

Hope this helps,
Michael Arida for Ask an Astrophysicist

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/010711a.html

[MicaelS]

13. Yes, and that is how scientists theorize

That supermassive black holes form at the center of galaxies.