GW190512_180714

Gravitational-wave source · GWTC-2.1-confident

A black hole of about 34 solar masses, formed on 2019-05-12 when two black holes of roughly 23 and 12 solar masses spiralled together 4.8 billion light-years away. LIGO and Virgo felt the collision as ripples in spacetime.

GW190512_180714, a gravitational-wave sourceComputed render
Computed render: general-relativistic ray-trace; colours mapped to a visible range. Not a photograph.
34.3 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
101 km
event-horizon radius (computed)
4.8 billion ly
from Earth
23+13 ☉
the two that merged

The two black holes that merged were about 23 (18–29) and 13 (10–16) solar masses. The remnant is 34 (31–38) 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 101 km in radius. The waves we detected had been travelling for 4.8 billion years before they reached us.

Black holes of similar mass
GW191113_071753GW191113_071753Gravitational-wave source34.0 ☉GW231014_040532GW231014_040532Gravitational-wave source33.8 ☉GW190925_232845GW190925_232845Gravitational-wave source34.9 ☉GW240930_035959GW240930_035959Gravitational-wave source35.5 ☉GW190412GW190412Gravitational-wave source35.6 ☉GW240428_225440GW240428_225440Gravitational-wave source33.0 ☉
Source: Gravitational-Wave Open Science Center (GWTC-2.1-confident), LIGO Virgo KAGRA. CC BY 4.0. See data & analysis for full sourcing.
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