US Edition
LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Release Data on Record 225-Solar-Mass Black Hole Merger
UNITED STATES, JUL 14 – The merger created a black hole 225 times the Sun's mass, challenging stellar evolution models and suggesting black holes may form through previous mergers, scientists said.
- On November 23, 2023, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration recorded GW231123, a gravitational wave signal from the largest black hole collision observed to date.
- This detection occurred during the LVK network's fourth observing run and follows the previous record set by GW190521 in 2021, which totaled 140 solar masses.
- The merger combined black holes of approximately 100 and 140 solar masses, spinning near Einstein's spin limit, producing a 225-solar-mass black hole and strong gravitational waves.
- Mark Hannam noted that this merging pair of black holes is the largest detected via gravitational wave signals to date, posing significant questions about how such massive black holes are formed.
- Researchers, including Gregorio Carullo, stated that unraveling the intricate signal will take years, while data release will allow continued study despite proposed facility reductions.
48 Articles
48 Articles
LIGO's heaviest black hole demands next-generation science
If you want to detect a gravitational wave, you have to design something extraordinary. Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime — distortions in the very fabric of spacetime itself — that propagate at the speed of light and that alternately stretch/expand space in one dimension, perpendicular to the direction of the wave’s propagation, while compressing/shrinking space at a 90 angle to the expanded dimension. Even the strongest of these osc…
Gravitational shockwave: LIGO catches a 225-solar-mass black-hole smash-up
Gravitational-wave detectors have captured their biggest spectacle yet: two gargantuan, rapidly spinning black holes likely forged by earlier smash-ups fused into a 225-solar-mass titan, GW231123. The record-setting blast strains both the sensitivity of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA and the boundaries of stellar-evolution theory, forcing scientists to rethink how such cosmic heavyweights arise.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources are Center
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
