The Monster from Cancer: Unprecedented Discovery in Deep Space

Astronomers have observed a truly colossal object in the constellation Cancer, one that dwarfs our entire Milky Way by several times in mass. But what makes this discovery extraordinary isn’t just its size—it’s the mysterious double flashes that occur every 12 years, revealing secrets about the most massive cosmic structures ever detected.

A Cosmic Behemoth in Cancer

Through this incredible object, we’ve gained a humbling perspective: our Milky Way, once thought to be a giant among galaxies, is actually of relatively modest and average size. Our cosmic metropolis spans hundreds of thousands of light-years and features a central supermassive black hole that has consumed matter equivalent to four million suns. These numbers already stretch human imagination—but now consider a galaxy with a central black hole weighing 18 billion solar masses, making it ten to twenty times more massive than our entire galaxy. This super-monster was observed in a galaxy five billion light-years away within the Cancer constellation.

The Blazar Known as OJ 287

This object, named OJ 287, has actually been observed since the 19th century, though early astronomers had little understanding of what they were seeing. We now know it as a quasar—a ‘quasi-stellar’ object that appears star-like but is actually an entire galactic core. More precisely, it represents the intensely luminous center of a galaxy, radiating with more energy than all the stars in our Milky Way combined. This makes it a true cosmic lighthouse.

The incredible brightness comes from a massive accretion disk—a whirlpool of gravitationally captured matter—swirling around the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s heart. From both poles of this black hole, extremely powerful plasma jets erupt outward at relativistic speeds. When one of these jets points directly toward Earth, the quasar appears exceptionally bright in our sky and earns the specific classification of a blazar. OJ 287 is precisely such an object.

The Double Flash Mystery

This blazar doesn’t just host one supermassive black hole—it contains two. In the 1980s, astronomers noticed a fascinating pattern: every 12 years, two flashes of light occurred in rapid succession. Calculations revealed that these flashes coincided with some object passing through the primary black hole’s accretion disk. To produce such brilliant flashes, this object would need a mass equivalent to 100 million suns—meaning it too must be a supermassive black hole, far larger than the one at our galaxy’s center.

The smaller black hole orbits its massive companion every 12 years, following a path with significant inclination relative to the larger black hole’s equatorial plane. Since the luminous accretion disk rotates along this equatorial plane, the smaller black hole passes through it twice during each orbit. Each passage creates a flash that astronomers can observe for about two weeks.

Finally, Direct Evidence

Until recently, this two-black-hole system remained a mathematical prediction without direct observational proof. But Finnish researchers have now successfully detected the smaller companion black hole. During its latest passage through the accretion disk, astronomers recorded not only the expected flash but also additional bursts of radiation—including a distinctive one-day flare believed to be caused by jets emanating from the smaller black hole. This confirmation leaves no doubt: the Cancer constellation hosts this astonishing binary system.

A Cosmic Dance of Galaxies

Astronomers believe this system resulted from two galaxies colliding. The larger galaxy appears to have ‘consumed’ a smaller neighbor. While galaxies eventually merge into one, their central black holes first spend millions of years orbiting each other before finally combining. What we’re witnessing in OJ 287 is precisely this cosmic dance—a preview of what will happen when our Milky Way eventually collides with the Andromeda galaxy billions of years from now.

The discovery in Cancer reminds us that our universe remains full of wonders that challenge our understanding and spark our imagination. As we continue to explore the depths of space, who knows what other monsters we might find lurking in the cosmic dark?