No collisions have been observed directly, but astronomers have found
several pairs of black holes that are very close to each other, including some that are orbiting each other and some that seem to be on course for a collision.
Jets are narrow streams
of gas that emergefrom the cores
of some galaxies, travel at more than 99 percent thespeed
of light, and penetrate as much as
several million light - yearsinto intergalactic space before fanning out into broad, luminous lobes.How might a
black -
hole whirlpool generate such a
pair of waterspouts?Swirling bundles
of magnetic field lines, flinging particles outwardfrom the poles
of the
hole, provide a natural explanation.