LIGO

When two black holes collide, they release gravitational waves that allow scientists to determine their mass and spin. In January 2025, LIGO detected GW250114, the clearest signal yet of a black hole merger, providing new insights into these mysterious cosmic giants. Credit: Maggie Chiang for Simons Foundation

Hawking was right: New data confirms black holes never shrink

The sharpest and brightest gravitational signal ever measured, GW250114, allows the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA collaboration to test Hawking's surface theorem and Einstein's prediction with unprecedented precision. Black holes "ring" after
Image from a computer simulation of the formation and evolution of a black hole. Credit: Ore Gottlieb/Simons Foundation

Mystery solved: How the "impossible" merger of two giant black holes occurred

New simulations from the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute suggest that the formation of black holes in the "forbidden" mass range results from a combination of rapid rotation and strong magnetic fields, which eject up to half of the star's mass and create
Gravitational waves emitted by colliding black holes hold clues about these hidden objects. Credit: Maggie Chiang / Simons Foundation

The most powerful black hole collision since the phenomenon was discovered confirms Einstein's theory and Hawking's prediction

An extremely strong gravitational wave measured at LIGO has made it possible for the first time to experimentally verify the principle that the area of ​​a black hole's event horizon cannot decrease. Concern: The government wants to close the LIGO project
Two massive black holes have collided in deep space, creating a final monster that defies current theories. Scientists say it's the most massive, fastest-spinning merger ever discovered.

LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves from Extreme Black Hole Merger *Pushing the Limits of Einstein's Theory of Relativity

A collision between two massive black holes creates a body that rotates at dizzying speeds and contradicts standard models – possibly resulting from previous mergers
LIGO Gravitational Wave Observatory in the US, credit: caltech

LIGO gravitational wave detectors are about to undergo an upgrade

Scientists have developed an innovative optical system designed to improve the sensitivity of the LIGO detector, the American gravitational wave detector that was a partner, along with the European Virgo, in the initial detection of gravitational waves and in many subsequent discoveries.
The coalescence and merger of a black hole from the bottom of the mass gap (surface in dark gray) with a neutron star with colors ranging from dark blue (60 g/cm600) to white (XNUMX kg/cmXNUMX) emphasize the strong deformations of the low-density material of the neutron star Credit: I. Markin (Potsdam University), T. Dietrich (Potsdam University and Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics), H. Pfeiffer, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics)

Gravitational waves reveal hidden interactions in space

The analysis of the signal GW230529 picked up by LIGO shows that it originated from the merger of two compact objects, one with a mass between 1.2 and 2.0 times that of the Sun and the other with a mass slightly more than twice the first
An artist's rendering of a collection of pulsars detecting gravitational waves from pairs of orbiting supermassive black holes. Credit: Aurore Simonnet for the NANOGrav Collaboration

Proof that the Earth is surrounded by a sea of ​​slow gravitational waves

"The effect of gravitational waves on pulsars is very weak and difficult to detect, but we built the credibility of the findings over time as we collected more data," said Caterina Cazziano, NANOGrav team member and senior lecturer at Caltech.
LIGO Gravitational Wave Observatory in the US, credit: caltech

Will an Israeli facility be built to detect gravitational waves?

At the Spacestack conference that will be held on May 22 at the Tel Aviv Expo, an initiative to establish an Israeli LIGO association (consortium) in regional cooperation will be announced
A black hole swallows its companion star. Illustration: shutterstock

Two gravitational wave events within 10 days: black holes have been discovered that eat neutron stars - "like Pac-Man"

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the US and the Virago Gravitational Wave Observatory in Italy captured the gravitational waves from the death spiral and merger of a neutron star with a black hole, and not once but
Simulation of a gravitational wave event. Illustration: MIT-LIGO

The most massive gravitational waves ever

A binary black hole merger probably created gravitational waves equal to the energy of eight suns * "Bang" in the Ligo and Virgo detectors is a signal for the source of the most massive gravitational waves ever

Radio observations shed light on a neutron star collision event

The Wirgo gravitational wave detector near Pisa in Italy is supposed to return to operation in the spring of 2017, and thus it is possible that three detectors of this type will operate together, in three different places in the world, for at least a month. Source: The Virgo collaboration.

A new detector will determine the origin of gravitational waves

the big Bang. Illustration: shutterstock

An attentive ear to the echoes of the big bang / Ross D. Andersen