• Scientists detected reportedly the largest-ever merger of two black holes, forming one that is 225 times the mass of the Sun.

• The signal, designated GW231123, was detected during the fourth observing run of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) network.

• Gravitational-wave detectors such as LIGO in the United States, Virgo in Italy, and KAGRA in Japan are designed to measure minute distortions in spacetime caused by violent cosmic events like black hole mergers.

• The two black holes that merged were approximately 100 and 140 times the mass of the Sun.

• In addition to their high masses, they are also rapidly spinning, making this a uniquely challenging signal to interpret and suggesting the possibility of a complex formation history.

• The high mass and extremely rapid spinning of the black holes in GW231123 pushes the limits of both gravitational-wave detection technology and current theoretical models.

• Extracting accurate information from the signal required the use of theoretical models that account for the complex dynamics of highly spinning black holes.

• To date, approximately 300 black hole mergers have been observed through gravitational waves. 

• Until now, the most massive black hole merger — produced by an event that took place in 2021 called GW190521 — had a total mass of 140 times that of the Sun.

What is a black hole?

• A black hole is born when a large star collapses in on itself. Far from being a “hole”, they are instead incredibly dense objects with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, may escape them. As they suck in matter such as gas, dust and space debris, they form an accretion disk — a churning mass of super-accelerated particles that are among the brightest objects in the Universe — around them.

• Scientists generally believe that there are two types of black holes. The more common stellar black holes — up to 20 times more massive than the Sun — form when the centre of a very big star collapses in on itself.

• Supermassive black holes are at least a million times bigger than the Sun and their origins are uncertain.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store