A Cauldron of Stars at the Galaxy’s Center: The central white patch in the image is the dense star cluster at the center of our galaxy. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (SSC/Caltech))

ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2009) — It may sound like science fiction, but freakish galactic events such as ravenous black holes and ripples in the space-time continuum could be happening all around us. according to new research from Swinburne University of Technology.

In a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Swinburne researchers examined 50 regular galaxies to determine their composition and structure.

The researchers, Associate Professor Alister Graham and Dr Lee Spitler, found that 12 of these galaxies contained a double nucleus — that is, they had both a super massive black hole and a dense star cluster containing up to ten million stars at their centre.

Traditionally astronomers believed that most small galaxies had a compact star cluster at their centre while giant galaxies had a super massive black hole.

Double nucleus galaxies were thought to be extremely rare; however the Swinburne researchers have shown that they are actually quite common.

According to Graham, the prevalence of double nucleus galaxies significantly increases the likelihood of several bizarre astronomical phenomena occurring.

The first of these is a phenomenon where black holes ‘eat up’ nearby stars.

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