Scientists have detected the largest black hoole merger so far. What is it and why it matters

It was a collision at night. One big.

On November 23, 2023, a huge merger of two black holes reached the Earth and raised by the Ligo-Virgo-Kagra collaboration, a group that detects such a merger through gravitational waves.

And these were black hole chunky, who were coming 100 and 140 times more than the Sun’s mass.

But the final merger produced something more impressive: another black hole that is more than 225 times than the Sun’s mass, Astronomers revealed today,

Astronomers are excited about this merger because it is unusual. Most of this type of merger is thus being detected through gravitational waves, which is 10 to 40 times the Sun, which is part of the group which is part of the group.

“We had discovered the first gravitational wave 10 years ago, and since then, we have already found more than 300 events. So it is really an exciting (time),” said Bini. “But this incident is especially very interesting because it is the greatest.”

Gravitational waves are waves in space-time that can only be detected by highly sensitive devices, such as cooperation, which are located in the United States, Japan and Italy.

The first gravitational wave was detected in 2015 and declared by astronomers in 2016.

Another interesting discovery of this identity – called GW231123 – is that the pair is spinning very quickly.

Charlie Hoy said in a statement at the University of Portsmouth, “Black holes appear very fast – (Albert) near Einstein’s permission to the principle of general relativity.” “This makes the signal difficult to model and interpret. It is an excellent case study to carry forward the development of our theoretical equipment.”

Understand black hole

Not all black holes are made the same.

There are supermasive black holes that can be thousands of times from the Sun’s mass to billions of times and lie in the center of galaxies. For example, there is a black hole in the center of the Milky Way, called Sagittarius* – or SGR A* – which is about four million times than the Sun’s mass.

Then there are staller-mas black holes, which can be from mass only a few times from the Sun’s mass. Or, some debate, A hundred times Its mass. This form when a huge star comes out of the fuel and burst into a luxurious fashion, an event called a supernova.

But then there are people who lie somewhere between the two, which are called intermediate black holes. To find in-in-betwines Right difficult for astronomersIt is a new merger that astronomers are called a “mass gap” between steller-mas and supermasive black holes.

Stars killing

It is not clear at all why these two black holes were so heavy as to what astronomers have discovered earlier. One theory is that each pair themselves were the result of the merger of two black holes.

But this is not the only principle.

Priya Natarajan, Professor of Physics and Chairman of Astronomy at the University of Yale, study supermasive Black Hole. However, these two black holes are piddly compared to those who say she is excited about recently to find out.

“I think it is super exciting for two reasons. First is the heaviness of individual black holes, before they really merge,” Natarajan said, Natarajan said, which were not involved with conclusions. “So the fact is that, you know, the general stellar procedures that give you these stellar-reward remains black holes, it is very difficult to imagine, like, reaching 100 and 140 at a time.”

But he has another principle how these two unusual black holes could become.

In 2014, he Cum cumperson of a paper It has been suggested that Black Hole may first grow rapidly in the initial universe of Supernova and then by raising the stars in a newborn star cluster, A la PAC-Man. More gas means large black holes. But she says in 2021, she realized that it could be later in the recent universe, as well as.

“The only thing that is different is not as much gas,” he said. “So I really showed that if there is not so much gas, you can start with something that is one or ten times the mass of the sun. It can probably reach 100. … If there is a little more gas, it can be 1,000.”

So this new discovery can open a new Avenue for cosmologists like you.

The next thing she wants to see is a better way to find out these merger. To find out recently, there is an estimate that it happened anywhere from two to 13 billion light years away.

Now, why are these conclusions important?

It is about human relations with the universe, Natarajan said.

“I think from this moment that we were standing upright as Neandarthal and we were able to see the sky of the night, we were fascinated by the regularity of the night sky, as well as what is going on like a cosmic drama, okay?

“I think to know our place in the universe is a question that is deeply original for us. And it has always been.”