science · 3 outlets · 3 linked reports
Astronomers Unveil 161 New Black Hole Collisions in Largest Catalog Ever
AI-assisted: summaries and questions may be incomplete or incorrect. Verify important details with the linked original reporting.
Summary
- A new gravitational-wave catalog adds 161 black hole mergers detected between April 2024 and January 2025, pushing the all-time total to 390.
- The signals came from the LIGO detectors in the US, Virgo in Italy and KAGRA in Japan, which now register events three to four times a week.
- Highlights include the clearest gravitational-wave signal yet, the most precise sky location of a merger, and evidence of 'second-generation' black holes.
- Two late-2024 events, GW241011 and GW241110, suggest at least one black hole in each had already survived a previous collision.
The question
Gravitational-wave astronomy has entered a new era, with detections now arriving several times a week.
Open this story in Khali
Get Khali on the App Store