Astrophysicists have recently seen signs of the largest black hole collision ever. The result was a special type of black hole that scientists have never seen before.
The two black holes had 66 and 85 times the mass of the Sun, and calculations show that the result of the merger was a black hole with 143 solar masses.
This means that the collision has released energy equivalent to nine solar masses. Most of that energy has flowed through space in the form of so-called gravitational waves, which the sensors LIGO in the US and Virgo in Italy can measure.
Gravitational waves reveal the size of black holes
When black holes absorb each other, enormous amounts of energy are released in the form of gravitational waves that travel through space. Their intensity shows how heavy the black holes were.
1. The limit at 100 solar masses
Gravitational waves previously observed by LIGO and Virgo from black hole mergers have left a merged black hole less than 100 solar masses.
2. New merger breaks records
Analyzes of the merger of two black holes now show that they were 66 and 85 solar masses, and the result was a new 142 solar mass black hole.
The merger is not only the largest gravitational wave event observed to date, but also the most distant. The collision occurred in an area that is now 17 billion light years away from here.
However, 17 billion light years have not passed since the collision, but only seven. The universe has been said to be about half of its current size. Due to the expansion of the universe, this region is now at a much greater distance.
The discovery of a 142 solar mass black hole is important because this is the first time a black hole has been found in the so-called intermediate weight class, but according to accepted theory, such a black hole is formed by the merger of two smaller ones.
More collisions created the black hole
A smaller black hole is formed when a large star, but less than 60 solar masses, collapses. If a star exceeds this size limit, it will break apart instead of forming a black hole.
These two black holes, one 66 solar masses and the other 85, have probably formed themselves in a collision, say the scientists.
Black holes in four weight classes
Astronomers currently lack only evidence for the existence of the smallest black holes. According to the theory, they were formed shortly after the Big Bang and are only about the weight of one mountain. Nothing like that has been found yet.
