Black Hole Merger Animation
Quicktime

• High Res (14.6 MB)
• Low Res (2.8 MB)

MPEG

• High Res (8.4 MB)
• Low Res (8.4 MB)

Broadcast Quality

Movie 1 (2005) (1019.6 MB)

Movie 2 (1.2 GB)

The movie shows a merger of two galaxies (simulation) that forms a single galaxy with two centrally located supermassive black holes surrounded by disks of hot gas. The black holes orbit each other for hundreds of millions of years before they merge to form a single supermassive black hole that sends out intense gravitational waves.
[Runtime: 0:43]
(Animation: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
Simulation: Josh Barnes (U. of Hawaii)/John Hibbard (NRAO)

Animation Stills