Physicists detected a major merger of black holes, marking the largest event observed to date. The merger involved two high-mass black holes, approximately 100 and 140 times the mass of the Sun, combining to form a final black hole of around 225 solar masses. This discovery highlights the existence of previously forbidden high-mass black holes. LIGO, responsible for detecting gravitational waves since 2015, made this observation in November 2023, amidst concerns over funding cuts for gravitational-wave detection efforts.
The merger was between black holes with masses too big for physicists to easily explain. "We're seeing these forbidden high-mass black holes," says Priyamvada Natarajan.
The event, dubbed GW231123, was caused by two black holes with masses of about 100 and 140 times that of the Sun merging to form a final black hole weighing in at some 225 solar masses.
It's the most massive [merger] so far. It's about 50% more than the previous record holder," says Mark Hannam, a physicist at Cardiff University.
Hundreds of these mergers have been observed using gravitational waves since LIGO's first detection in 2015. But this latest detection, made in November 2023, is the biggest yet.
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