Black holes are hurtling through our universe at more than 2.2 million mph and scientists think they now know why

• Scientists have created new computer simulations to study what happens during a supernova.

• Their models show that sometimes when stars die, they create a black hole that goes screaming into space.

• These black holes are sent into space, moving as fast as 1,000 kilometers per second.

Scientists studying how supernovae explode may have discovered a new process that is sure to black holes forms.

Turn out, share black holes baby hit the ground running at enormous speeds just moments after they took shape.

Typically, black holes form from the core of a supermassive star after it explodes in a spectacular burst of light, known as a supernova. The core accumulates, or collects, gas left over from the star’s guts, until it grows so dense, a black hole forms.

However, there is speed, shape, and size of the initial explosion varies widely depending on the mass and density of the parent star before it explodes.

What’s more, those factors play a key role in what happens to the star’s core and how it might turn into a black hole, according to a new study published in the ArXiv preprint server.

For example, when parent star quite low mass and very dense, computer simulations suggest that it will explode symmetrically, forming a near-perfect sphere.

But when the star is very massive and less dense, the supernova becomes more and more asymmetric the explosion it usually lasts longer, according to the new study.

“So, you’re exploding in one direction more than other directions, and in those other directions, it’s very possible that you’re continuing to add significantly,” which could lead to black hole, Adam Burrows, lead author of the paper and professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, told Business Insider.

Something else happens from supernova explosions. The stellar remnant gets kicked into the universe, and when the explosion is asymmetric, that kick can be quite severe, Burrows said.

The kick is exactly what it sounds like. The object – in this case a black hole – is sent flying into space, sometimes at enormous speeds of up to 1,000 kilometers per second, or about 2.2 million mph.

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It’s like the recoil from a gun after shot with a bulletVijay Varma, an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth who was not involved in the research, told Business Insider.

So, for a short time after birth, these black holes could be moving through space, sometimes as fast as 1,000 kilometers per second, the paper theorizes. But this movement is likely temporary, and somewhat rare, Burrows said.

“They’re not zooming around, and circling, and doing all kinds of damage while staying inside the galaxy,” Burrows said.

Building a universe inside a computer

The new study includes 20 3-D simulations of supernova explosions.

“This is the largest series of long-term (several seconds after Bounce) modern 3D core collapse simulations ever created,” the researchers reported in the paper.

Previous simulations of this type of scenario were too short to draw conclusions about how stellar cores are then ejected into the universe, Burrows said.

That’s because these computer simulations take thousands of zones, and each zone contains information about wind speed, temperature, barometric pressure, and other aspects of this theoretical environment, like mapping weather.

Think of all the complexities of building a universe inside a computer. Many academic programs do not have access to super computers are able to build these simulations, Burrows said.

Although Varma does not study supernova deaths, he said theoretical work like this has implications for many other areas of astrophysical research.

“All this theory is very important. And as we connect them with observations, we can try to trace the evolution of black holes back in time,” said Varma.

If the black holes are moving

If you hear speeding black holes and start to panic, don’t. Burrows said it is highly unlikely that these black holes would travel into our solar system.

There is space so extensive, Varma added, you’d be better off betting the lottery than waiting for a black hole to visit our solar system. “It’s astronomically unlikely that anything like that will happen,” he said.

In the unlikely event that a black hole or neutron was approaching, Burrows said, “then it would be a bad day.”

The fact that our planet and the rest of it the solar system having lived for the last 4.5 billion years can be pretty sure that a black hole will not come screaming through our neighborhood anytime soon, if ever.

The study has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Astrophysical Journal.

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