system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Is it plausible that black holes orbit something the same as how stars orbit black holes and planets to stars?
gpt
Absolutely. Black holes have a mass, and they can orbit around something with a comparable or greater mass to them (more specifically, they'll orbit around their common center of mass, which is what happens with planets, stars, etc. too). For example, if a binary star system (two stars orbiting each other) contains two stars which are massive enough to become black holes, then eventually that system might become two black holes orbiting each other. If they're close enough, they'll lose orbital energy to gravitational radiation, causing them to spiral inwards until they collide and form a larger black hole, releasing a flurry of gravitational waves.