A runaway black hole has been spotted fleeing a distant galaxy

The black hole was probably kicked out after two or three galaxies merged into one

An illustration of a black hole.

Almost every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center, like the one in this illustration. But sometimes those black holes get knocked around or kicked out of their galaxies entirely.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, DPAC/Gaia/ESA

A streak of light stretching away from a remote galaxy might be the first sure sign of a gargantuan black hole on the run, a new study reports.