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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">Discovery of a triple supermassive black hole by South African and international scientists</p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal">25 June 2014</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">SKA SA Project Director Bernie Fanaroff today congratulated Cape Town astronomer Roger Deane and the team of SKA SA-funded researchers who have discovered a triple supermassive black hole system. Four South African institutions (the Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape, as well as Rhodes University and SKA South Africa) are represented by the research team, which is a very positive confirmation of the dynamic and significant radio astronomy which has developed rapidly in South Africa. The discovery demonstrates that South Africa has the scientific and technical expertise to be a world leader in radio astronomy and to contribute directly to gravitational wave experiments that will provide fundamental insights not only to astronomy, but also more broadly to physics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Multiple supermassive black hole systems are thought to have a significant impact on the way galaxies evolve, particularly through their impact on stars and gas as they spiral in towards one another. When these black holes get very close to one another they are expected to emit gravitational waves. Einstein predicted these ripples in space-time a century ago and MeerKAT and the SKA have been designed to detect them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Although they were predicted theoretically, these exotic back hole systems have remained elusive for decades. This discovery suggests that they are more common than previous observations have shown and predicts that the radio telescopes we are building here in South Africa and Africa will be able to discover many more. This highlights the high-impact science that will be done with the African VLBI Network (AVN), the planned radio telescope comprised of an array of converted telecommunication dishes. It also connects the type of science done with VLBI arrays with the experiments to be performed with MeerKAT and eventually with the SKA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Issued by</p><p class="MsoNormal">SKA SA</p><p class="MsoNormal">+27 21 506 7300</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><img width="622" height="474" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01CF9116.882DBA80"></p>
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