In the Virgo Constellation, around 3.5 billion light years from Earth, two black holes (binary black hole) are present, which are locked by gravity and are madly orbiting each other. But with passing time their orbits are closing in. According to scientists from Columbia University, they will join together in one huge cosmic blast in around 100,000 years.

Presently, scientists have said that the distance between the two black holes is not bigger than the width of our solar system.

The binary black hole system also has a quasar known as PG 1302-102, which is pumping out an odd cyclical light signal.

Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology, (Caltech) discovered the pair earlier this year after they observed an odd light beaming from the center of a galaxy.

Scientists at the Caltech used the ground based telescopes of the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, composed of the Mt. Lemmon Survey, Catalina Sky Survey, and Siding Spring Survey. They discovered that the motion of the orbiting black holes was probably generating the odd fluctuating light signal.

They used to think that perhaps the light in the signal wasn’t coming from the black holes directly but rather from surrounding material.

The scientists got the historical data by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and Hubble Space Telescope. With the help of that data, they were able to further study the black hole duo and got to known about new details about the odd, cyclical light signal.

In a university release, the study’s senior author, Zoltan Haiman, an astronomer at Columbia, said, “This is the closest we’ve come to observing two black holes on their way to a massive collision”.