Using gravitational wave data, experts discovered a special event that created a supermassive black hole tens of times the size of the Sun.
Scientists at Australian National University have discovered that the collision and fusion of two black holes has created a new supermassive black hole 80 times the size of the Sun, the Sun reported on December 5. The event occurred 9 billion light years from Earth and was the largest black hole collision on record.
The team of experts discovered this event in July 2017, but only now have they verified and made it public. “The black hole’s rotational speed is the fastest of all mergers on record. In addition, it is also the most distant merger observed,” said Professor Susan Scott, member of the research team.
They also detected three other black hole collisions from August 9 to 23 last year, 3-6 billion light years from Earth. The new supermassive black holes that form from these events are 56 to 66 times larger than the Sun.
“The collisions occur in four different black hole binary systems, causing strong gravitational waves to radiate out into space. Finding them helps us better understand the number of black hole binary systems in the universe, mass and speed of rotation of a black hole during a merger, ”explains Scott.
Black holes in the universe are not uncommon. In fact, scientists estimate that there are around 10,000 black holes in the center of the Milky Way. When they collide, they create large oscillations of gravitational waves. Sensors on Earth can pick up these oscillations.
New research by a team of scientists from the Australian National University was made possible by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States. They analyzed data collected by LIGO to find four black hole collisions.
Experts want to improve gravitational wave detectors to detect more distant events. The ultimate goal is to understand the whole story, from when the universe started to form after the Big Bang.
Some of the detectors were upgraded when the project’s second round of sightings ended last August. “This means that in our third wave of observations early next year, we will detect other events, discover new things, and possibly pick up gravitational waves from unknown sources in the universe.” declared Professor Scott.
