So can anyone explain this to me?

[BeAChooser]

NASA claims the Milky Way contains a supermassive black hole: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chan ... riusA.html . And Leo I is (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_I_(dwarf_galaxy) ) “a dwarf spheroidal galaxy” that is “about 820,000 light-years distant” for the Milky Way. Remember that number. It’s just been announced (https://phys.org/news/2021-12-astronome ... -hole.html) that Leo I contains a black hole that is “Almost as massive as the black hole in our own galaxy”. That would make it another supermassive black hole. Right? Just 820,000 light years apart ... and 820,000 light years from earth. Right? And this fact was published back on November 10th: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2111.04770.pdf .

If so ... why did the mainstream astrophysics community just announce (https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2117/ ) on November 30th, that "Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have revealed the closest pair of supermassive black holes to Earth ever observed. The two objects also have a much smaller separation than any other previously spotted pair of supermassive black holes and will eventually merge into one giant black hole. Located in the galaxy NGC 7727 in the constellation Aquarius, the supermassive black hole pair is about 89 million light-years away from Earth. Although this may seem distant, it beats the previous record of 470 million light-years by quite some margin, making the newfound supermassive black hole pair the closest to us yet."?

And of course, the MSM, without a thought, has regurgitated that claim:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... ar-AARmrWX “Astronomers spot supermassive black hole duo that's the closest to Earth yet”

https://news.yahoo.com/pair-supermassiv ... 55632.html “Pair of supermassive black holes is closest found to Earth”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-02/ ... /100668396 “Supermassive black holes closest to Earth ever found set to collide, scientists say”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... ar-AARiBta “Closest Supermassive Black Hole Pair to Earth Discovered, On Verge of Collision”

https://scitechdaily.com/supermassive-b ... iscovered/ “Closest Pair of Supermassive Black Holes to Earth Ever Discovered”

https://www.businessinsider.com/two-sup ... 21-12?op=1 “Astronomers find 2 supermassive black holes — the nearest to Earth ever discovered”

But that's wrong, isn't it? And if the MSM gets that excited about a pair of supermassive blackholes that's 89 million light years away, shouldn't they get 100 times more excited about a pair of supermassive blackholes that are only 820,000 light years away? Of course, the 89 million light year distant pair are said to have masses of 154 million times and 6.3 million times that of the Sun, while the Milky Way black hole only has a mass of 4 million sons. But is that anywhere near as significant as their distance? Assuming, of course, that they even exist.

[BeAChooser]

Make that 4 million sUns.

[antosarai]

As I understand it, galaxy NGC 7727, 89M LY away, has two nuclei in its center, separated by 1,600 LY. Each such nuclei houses a supermassive black hole. the pair forming a binary, as these black holes in some million years will both move to the center of NGC 7727 and will eventually merge. (See image at https://www.sciencealert.com/a-binary-p ... ce-records.) At 89M LY away, the pair is the closest supermassive black holes binary known to us.

Both the Milky Way and Leo I galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers but these black holes do not form a binary, as they move independently, within their galaxies.

One thing is one thing, another thing is another thing?

[BeAChooser]

At 89M LY away, the pair is the closest supermassive black holes binary known to us.

Ah. I see. Thanks. And thank goodness that's set to happen 250 million years from now.

[BeAChooser]

Oh my ... maybe we should be more concerned about this ... since it's only 50 million years out ...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... ar-AARjsIb

According to new research published Nov. 8 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the Magellanic Stream is far closer to our galaxy than previous estimates had suggested. Accounting for recent observations of the stream's structure, a team of researchers simulated the history of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds' interactions with each other and with our galaxy. They found that the stream sits just 65,000 light-years from Earth — or about five times closer than previously thought.

The implications for the Magellanic Stream and its future are huge; not only do these findings suggest that the stream is about one-fifth as massive as previously thought, but also that it will collide with our galaxy much sooner — likely within about 50 million years, the researchers wrote.