Scientists Record Largest Black Hole Collision Ever Observed
(MENAFN) Scientists have recorded the largest black hole collision ever observed, following the fusion of two colossal black holes more than 10 billion light-years away, researchers revealed Monday.
The two cosmic giants, each exceeding 100 times the mass of our sun, spiraled inward before combining into a single black hole estimated to weigh about 265 solar masses, according to data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), based in the United States.
“These are the most violent events we can observe in the universe, but when the signals reach Earth, they are the weakest phenomena we can measure,” Professor Mark Hannam told media, adding: “By the time these ripples wash up on Earth they are tiny,” in reference to theories suggesting the black holes themselves may have originated from earlier mergers.
Ordinarily, black holes emerge when massive stars deplete their nuclear fuel and collapse, forming a gravitational abyss that engulfs anything in its vicinity.
However, this unprecedented event has raised new questions about black hole formation, with detectors on Earth capturing gravitational waves—ripples in space-time—fainter than a single proton. The resulting black hole is spinning near the maximum possible rate, roughly 400,000 times faster than Earth's rotation.
The gravitational waves were detected on November 23, 2023, when LIGO’s twin observatories in Washington and Louisiana recorded concurrent signals. The brief disruption in space-time, lasting just 0.1 seconds, represented the "ringdown" phase, when the newly formed black hole stabilized.
“These are the highest masses of black holes we’ve confidently measured with gravitational waves,” said Hannam, a member of the LIGO collaboration.
“And they’re strange, because they are slap bang in the range of masses where, because of all kinds of weird things that happen, we don’t expect black holes to form.”
Researchers suspect the enormous size and intense spin of these black holes point to a complex origin involving previous mergers. “This is the most extreme example where that’s probably what’s happening,” Hannam said.
He continued: “The detectors we have planned for the next 10 to 15 years will be able to see all the black hole mergers in the universe, and maybe some surprises we didn’t expect.”
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