LIGO Detects Most Massive Black Hole Merger to Date (caltech.edu)
(Tuesday July 15, 2025 @03:00AM (BeauHD)
from the record-breaking dept.)
- Reference: 0178377898
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/07/14/2319237/ligo-detects-most-massive-black-hole-merger-to-date
- Source link: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/ligo-detects-most-massive-black-hole-merger-to-date
The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration has [1]detected the most massive black hole merger to date , forming a final black hole around 225 times the Sun's mass. Caltech reports:
> Before now, the most massive black hole merger -- produced by an event that took place in 2021 called GW190521 -- had a total mass of 140 times that of the Sun. In the more recent GW231123 event, the 225-solar-mass black hole was created by the coalescence of black holes each approximately 100 and 140 times the mass of the Sun. In addition to their high masses, the black holes are also rapidly spinning.
>
> "The black holes appear to be spinning very rapidly -- near the limit allowed by Einstein's theory of general relativity," explains Charlie Hoy of the University of Portsmouth and a member of the LVK. "That makes the signal difficult to model and interpret. It's an excellent case study for pushing forward the development of our theoretical tools." Researchers are continuing to refine their analysis and improve the models used to interpret such extreme events. "It will take years for the community to fully unravel this intricate signal pattern and all its implications," says Gregorio Carullo of the University of Birmingham and a member of the LVK. "Despite the most likely explanation remaining a black hole merger, more complex scenarios could be the key to deciphering its unexpected features. Exciting times ahead!"
[1] https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/ligo-detects-most-massive-black-hole-merger-to-date
> Before now, the most massive black hole merger -- produced by an event that took place in 2021 called GW190521 -- had a total mass of 140 times that of the Sun. In the more recent GW231123 event, the 225-solar-mass black hole was created by the coalescence of black holes each approximately 100 and 140 times the mass of the Sun. In addition to their high masses, the black holes are also rapidly spinning.
>
> "The black holes appear to be spinning very rapidly -- near the limit allowed by Einstein's theory of general relativity," explains Charlie Hoy of the University of Portsmouth and a member of the LVK. "That makes the signal difficult to model and interpret. It's an excellent case study for pushing forward the development of our theoretical tools." Researchers are continuing to refine their analysis and improve the models used to interpret such extreme events. "It will take years for the community to fully unravel this intricate signal pattern and all its implications," says Gregorio Carullo of the University of Birmingham and a member of the LVK. "Despite the most likely explanation remaining a black hole merger, more complex scenarios could be the key to deciphering its unexpected features. Exciting times ahead!"
[1] https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/ligo-detects-most-massive-black-hole-merger-to-date
"an event that took place in 2021 called GW190521" (Score:2)
by hcs_$reboot ( 1536101 )
No, the event took place long ago. It was observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors in 2019 and published in 2020, but had a Luminosity distance of 17 billion light years away from Earth (due to an expanding universe, that translates to an event that happened about 7 billion years ago).
Re: (Score:3)
by hcs_$reboot ( 1536101 )
It was a Tuesday.
Re: (Score:2)
by DamnOregonian ( 963763 )
They're referring to the event GW190521. That did indeed occur in 2019 (not 2021), and published in 2020 (not 2021) as it refers directly to the gravitational wave transient as received, not the merger itself.
Sometimes people do use this inconsistently, but it is an error.
Uh... I have a bad feeling about this. (Score:1)
What are the chances that one too many of these monsters merge together and just starts gobbling up the entire rest of the universe at an exponentially increasing rate? Has anyone done the math on that yet? Exciting times, indeed.
Re: (Score:1)
Practically zero... most galaxies already contain a central black hole with millions or sometimes billions of solar masses...
Don't forget that black holes don't "suck" more than a star with the same mass... you can just get closer to the black hole without touching it. At the same distance you get the same gravity.
Re: (Score:3)
Or importantly in this case, a merged blackhole doesn't suck more than both black holes did before.
Zoom out a small bit, and that 2 blackholes is indistinguishable from one. Now that's just the case up close, too.
Re: (Score:3)
“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” Douglas Adams.
Re: (Score:2)
Precisely zero.
The mass of a merged blackhole is not larger than its 2 constituents.
In short: That's not how gravity works.