"Just days after they began operations, they saw the first-ever directly detected gravitational wave: GW150914, which signified the merger of two black holes. From across the Universe, a black hole of 36 times the mass of the Sun merged with another of 29 times the Sun's mass, producing a remnant black hole of just 62 solar masses, with the other 3 solar masses getting converted into gravitational radiation via Einstein's E = mc²."
"When those emitted waves arrived in each of the twin LIGO detectors, they changed the length of LIGO's incredibly long, precise laser arms by less than the width of a single proton. Yet the signal was strong enough, and LIGO was sensitive enough, that those black hole properties could all be reconstructed, with the fact that the signals from both detectors matched showing that it wasn't noise, it wasn't an injected signal, and it wasn't a fluke."
The twin Advanced LIGO detectors in Hanford and Livingston began operations ten years ago and recorded GW150914 days later, marking the first direct detection of gravitational waves. Two black holes of roughly 36 and 29 solar masses merged, producing a 62-solar-mass remnant while about three solar masses converted into gravitational radiation via Einstein's E = mc². Those emitted waves changed LIGO's laser arm lengths by less than the width of a single proton, yet matched signals across both detectors enabled source reconstruction and excluded noise, injections, and flukes. A recent event, GW250114 from January 2025, demonstrates progress in gravitational-wave astronomy and promises considerably more astrophysical insight.
Read at Big Think
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