00:00 There's a lot we still don't know about black holes, but now experts say they're
00:06 zeroing in on just how fast these cosmic bodies can move through space.
00:11 When black holes collide, they don't just sit there at their point of contact.
00:14 Remember, black holes have incredible mass, and despite still being quite mysterious,
00:18 they still adhere to the laws of physics.
00:20 Mostly.
00:21 Meaning when two of them collide, they can be sent careening through the cosmos, and
00:25 experts say that recoil can approach the speed of light.
00:28 The researchers used a series of computer simulations to get their results, eventually
00:32 figuring out the upper limits of black hole speed.
00:35 With the researchers writing, they can reach speeds upwards of 28,562 ± 342 km/s, or just
00:43 under 10% the speed of light after a merger.
00:46 That's faster than five times previous estimates.
00:49 So far, astronomers have only ever detected one black hole they believe was the result
00:53 of emerging recoil, and it was traveling at 1,542 km/s.
00:58 For reference, the fastest object ever created by human hands is the Parker Solar Probe,
01:03 which is moving at a comparatively paltry 163 km/s.
01:08 [music]
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