
How The Largest Black Hole Merger In History Challenges Its Physics
Two enormous black holes, around 100 and 140 times the mass of the Sun, collided in this cosmic collision to create a new black hole - 225 times more massive than the Sun, per the Astronomy Magazine.
Since supernova physics usually disturbs progenitor stars in the 60-130 solar mass "mass gap," black holes in that range are not likely to develop via regular stellar collapse.
And GW231123 stands out among those 300 black hole mergers for reasons other than simply being the greatest massive collision.
"This is the largest and most massive black hole binary ever detected through gravitational waves, and it poses a real challenge to our understanding of black hole formation," LIGO Scientific Collaboration member Professor Mark Hannam of Cardiff University asserted.
The distance of GW231123 from Earth is unknown; it may be as far away as 12 billion light-years, according to Professor Hannam. The speed at which the two black holes are orbiting one another is another unexpected aspect of GW231113.
The results showed that the two merging black holes were spinning close to the maximum allowed by general relativity, in accordance with Einstein's theory. It is, thus, quite challenging to extract exact features and to model waveforms with such high angular momentum.
The black holes are probably spinning as rapidly as is practically feasible, according to Dr Charlie Hoy of Portsmouth University. "GW231123 poses a serious threat to our knowledge of how black holes emerge," Dr Hoy said.
According to Professor Zoltan Haiman of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, who was not involved in the project, the black holes in GW231123 were therefore thought to be leftovers of one or even several generations of previous mergers.
GW231123 was discovered by a group of astronomers when the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected faint ripples in space-time caused by two black holes colliding. Scientists refer to these disturbances as gravitational waves.
The event was detected during the fourth observing run of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) network, which consists of Japan's KAGRA, the Virgo detector in Italy, and the LIGO observatories in the United States, CNN reported.
GW190521, which was only 60 per cent as large as GW231123, held the previous record for the largest black hole merger ever recorded. In the future, scientists may discover even more gigantic mergers.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


United News of India
13 hours ago
- United News of India
Indian scientists decode rhythms of a Black Hole: A discovery with AstroSat
Chennai, July 26 (UNI) ISRO today said India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory, AstroSat, has been continuously monitoring the enigmatic black hole--the universe's most enigmatic powerhouses--since its launch in September 2015 and was providing invaluable insights into source's behaviour. A group of Indian scientists from University of Haifa, IIT Guwahati, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) observed that the X-ray brightness from GRS 1915+105 fluctuates dramatically over time", it said. This research deepens our understanding of black holes also also highlights India's growing role in space-based astronomy. Black holes, the universe's most enigmatic powerhouses, cannot be seen directly, but their immense gravity reveals their presence. Born from the collapse of massive stars that exhaust their fuel, these cosmic voids are invisible because not even light can escape their grasp. However, a black hole in a binary system with a companion star, triggers a dramatic process known as accretion, pulling in stellar material that spirals inward and heats up to over 10 million degrees (far hotter than the Sun's surface temperature of 6000 degrees). This 'super-heated' matter emits intense X-rays, which are captured by space telescopes, offering scientists a rare window into the otherwise hidden lives of black holes. In a distant corner of our galaxy (nearly 28000 light-years away) lies one of the most fascinating and mysterious black hole, GRS 1915+105. This intriguing black hole X-ray binary system, consisting of a rapidly rotating black hole with a mass about 12 times that of a Sun and its companion star, has captured the attention of scientists due to its unusual and dynamic behaviour. ISRO also depicted a schematic diagram of the complex accretion process around GRS 1915+105, forming a swirling disc (1-10 million degree) and corona (∼100 million degree) structure. "India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory, AstroSat, has been continuously monitoring the enigmatic black hole GRS 1915+105 since its launch (September 2015) and provides invaluable insights into source's behaviour. Using two of its onboard instruments, namely Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) and Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), a group of Indian scientists from University of Haifa, IIT Guwahati, Indian Space Research Organization observed that the X-ray brightness from GRS 1915+105 fluctuates dramatically over time", it said. It exhibits a unique pattern of alternating low-brightness ('dips') and high-brightness ('non-dips') phases, each lasting a few hundred seconds. During the high-brightness phase, the team discovered something remarkable: rapid flickers in X-rays repeating about 70 times per second, known as Quasi-periodic Oscillations (QPOs). Interestingly, such 'fast' flickers vanish during the low-brightness phases. Explaining on what causes these mysterious 'fast' flickers', the research team uncovered that these rapid QPOs are intimately connected to a 'super-heated' cloud of energetic plasma surrounding the black hole, known as corona. During the bright high-energy phases when QPOs are strongest, the corona becomes more compact (smaller in size, R_(in) ) and significantly hotter (higher luminosity, L). Conversely, in the dimmer 'dip' phases, the corona expands (larger R_(in) ) and cools (smaller L), causing the flickers to vanish. This pattern suggests that the compact oscillating corona seems to be the origin of these fast QPO signals. These findings help scientists understand what happens in the vicinity of a black hole, where gravity is incredibly strong and conditions are extreme. Indeed, GRS 1915+105 acts as cosmic laboratory, and with AstroSat's remarkable contributions, Indian scientists are decoding the 'whispers' of this black hole. This work have been published in the prestigious journal, Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society co-authored by Anuj Nandi (ISRO), Santabrata Das (IIT Guwahati), Sreehari H. (Haifa University) and Seshadri Majumder (IIT Guwahati). Overall, this research not only deepens our understanding of black holes but also highlights India's growing role in space-based astronomy. UNI GV 1030


Hindustan Times
16 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
‘Hostile' alien spacecraft to attack Earth this November? Study makes shocking claim
A 'hostile' alien spacecraft could be slated to attack the planet in November, claims a controversial new study. Initial observations suggested 3I/ATLAS could be a comet measuring up to 15 meters in diameter -- which would make it larger than Manhattan.(X/@MAstronomers) A small group of scientists have said that a mysterious intergalactic object might pose a threat. "The consequences, should the hypothesis turn out to be correct, could potentially be dire for humanity," they wrote in the paper published on July 16. What is the hostile alien spacecraft? They are speaking of 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar entity discovered on July 1. The object is moving towards the sun at 130,000 mph, Live Science reported. It was confirmed as an interstellar object less than 24 hours later, and initial observations suggested it could be a comet measuring up to 15 meters in diameter -- which would make it larger than Manhattan. Scientists speaking to the publication, however, have dismissed the findings of this inflammatory paper. The trio, there, suggest that this object might be a piece of alien spy technology. Among them is Avi Loeb, the Harvard astrophysicist who has a reputation for linking extraterrestrial objects to alien life. He had earlier posited in 2017 that interstellar object ʻOumuamua might be an artificial alien recon probe, based on its shape and acceleration. For the 2025 study, Loeb collaborated with Adam Hibberd and Adam Crowl of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies in London, positing that 3I/ATLAS's trajectory suggests an alien origin as well. As per the trio, the object's speed -- significantly faster than that of ʻOumuamua and other objects-- coupled with the fact that it entered our solar system from a different angle than its predecessors offer "various benefits to an extraterrestrial intelligence," Loeb wrote in a blog post. Also Read | Scientists find strongest evidence yet of life on an alien planet As per Loeb, 3I/ATLAS will make close approaches to Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, which could allow aliens to sneakily plant spy 'gadgets' there. Then, when this supposed undercover UFO reaches its closest to the Sun (perihelion) in late November, it will be hidden from earth's view. "This could be intentional to avoid detailed observations from Earth-based telescopes when the object is brightest or when gadgets are sent to Earth from that hidden vantage point," Loeb said. If this anomaly turns out to be a 'technological artifiact' it could support the dark forest hypothesis, which argues that humans have not found signs of extraterrestrial entities yet because they remain undercover to shield themselves from predators or prey. Loeb has also warned that an attack is likely and would 'possibly require defensive measures to be undertaken.' Given that the 3I/ATLAS is travelling too fast for an Earth-based spacecraft to intercept it before it exits the solar system, "It is therefore impractical for earthlings to land on 3I/ATLAS at closest approach by boarding chemical rockets, since our best rockets reach at most a third of that speed," Loeb wrote. Meanwhile, the paper -- yet to be peer reviewed -- has been panned by some scientists, with Loeb himself admitting in the blog that the alien spy probe theory is a bit far-fetched. "By far, the most likely outcome will be that 3I/ATLAS is a completely natural interstellar object, probably a comet," he noted.


India Today
a day ago
- India Today
How old is the Sun, and when will it extinguis?
How old is the Sun, and when will it extinguish? 25 Jul, 2025 Credit: Nasa, Getty The Sun is around 4.6 billion years old, formed from a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust that collapsed due to gravity. Its formation began when a region within this cloud collapsed, leading most material to concentrate in the center to form the Sun, while the rest became a spinning disk that formed the planets and other Solar System bodies. The ignition of nuclear fusion occurred as the Sun's core became hot and dense enough, marking the Sun's transition into a true star that has powered it ever since. The Sun is currently about halfway through its main-sequence life, fusing hydrogen into helium in its core. In roughly 5 billion more years, the Sun will exhaust its core hydrogen and expand into a red giant, likely engulfing the inner planets. After the red giant phase, it will shed its outer layers and become a white dwarf, a dense, slowly cooling stellar remnant. The Sun's total life expectancy as a shining star is about 10 billion years, meaning we are presently living near the Sun's middle age.