GW190403_051519

Gravitational-wave source · GWTC-2.1-confident

A black hole of about 102 solar masses, formed on 2019-04-03 when two black holes of roughly 85 and 20 solar masses spiralled together 27.0 billion light-years away. LIGO and Virgo felt the collision as ripples in spacetime.

GW190403_051519, a gravitational-wave sourceComputed render
Computed render: general-relativistic ray-trace; colours mapped to a visible range. Not a photograph.
102 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
302 km
event-horizon radius (computed)
27.0 billion ly
from Earth
85+20 ☉
the two that merged

The two black holes that merged were about 85 (52–113) and 20 (12–46) solar masses. The remnant is 102 (78–129) solar masses. Values in parentheses are the 90% credible ranges from LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA (GWTC).

Its event horizon, the edge past which nothing returns, spans about 302 km in radius. The waves we detected had been travelling for 27.0 billion years before they reached us.

Black holes of similar mass
GW230819_171910Gravitational-wave source102 ☉GW230601_224134Gravitational-wave source102 ☉GW240824_205609Gravitational-wave source103 ☉GW241125_010116Gravitational-wave source101 ☉GW240618_071627Gravitational-wave source101 ☉GW231029_111508Gravitational-wave source101 ☉
Source: Gravitational-Wave Open Science Center (GWTC-2.1-confident), LIGO Virgo KAGRA. CC BY 4.0. See data & analysis for full sourcing.
← all black holes