The most massive black hole merger ever detected shakes up astrophysics

What just happened? A few years after making history with the first detection of gravitational waves, LIGO has observed a new, unprecedented cosmic event: the most massive black hole merger ever recorded. This extraordinary discovery challenges existing models of physics and astrophysics, prompting scientists to launch long-term investigations into the newly captured data.

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration has announced a groundbreaking discovery in the field of gravitational wave astronomy. The international research team has detected the most massive merger of two distinct black holes ever recorded. The event, designated GW231123, resulted in the formation of a new black hole with a mass 225 times that of the Sun.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) first made history in 2016 when it confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, providing strong evidence for Einstein's general theory of relativity. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time that travel at the ...