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Scientists discover record-breaking merger of black holes 10 billion light-years away
2025-07-14 20:53:25 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
Scientists have discovered the most massive merger of black holes ever observed, following a collision between two giant black holes over 10 billion light-years from Earth, researchers announced. SCIENCE,
According to data from the US-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), each black hole was more than 100 times the mass of the sun and spiraled into each other before merging into a new black hole estimated to be about 265 times the mass of our sun.
"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 The Guardian.
"By the time these ripples appear on Earth, they are small," he added, referring to theories that the two black holes may have formed from previous mergers.
In this case, the record-breaking merger of black holes has challenged current theories about how such massive objects form, with Earth-based detectors picking up faint ripples in space-time smaller than a proton. The new black hole is also spinning almost at the theoretical limit, about 400,000 times faster than Earth.
"These are the highest black hole masses we have confidently measured with gravitational waves," said Hannam, a member of the LIGO collaboration.
"And they're weird because they're stuck in the mass range where, because of all sorts of weird things happening, we don't expect black holes to form," he said.
LIGO physicists believe that black holes are likely formed from previous mergers, explaining their massive size and rapid rotation. “This is the most extreme example where that’s probably what’s happening,” Hannam said.
"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 that we don't expect," he said.
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