21/7/2025–|Last update: 01:31 (Mecca time)
Imagine a small ice ball rolling on a snowy slope, and whenever it rolls, it grew up, then collided with another huge ball coming from the opposite direction, so they formed a giant ball that was not seen before.
This is exactly similar to what happened in space, when a massive cosmic collision shook the tissue of the spacetime itself, and launched a wave of attractiveness that swept the entire universe until it reached our planet.
Just as the waves spread in a pool of water when a stone is thrown, gravitational waves are spread across the universe when violent cosmic events occur, but instead of water – as happens in the example – they spread in the tissue of the spacetime itself.
Ears you hear the universe
The observatories of gravitational waves are “giant cosmic ears” that monitor these accurate vibrations, and give us information about events that we cannot see even with the strongest telescopes.
Using the (Lego – Vergo – Kagra) network, a group of highly sensitive observatories in America, Italy and Japan, the researchers managed on November 23, 2023 to capture a signal that reveals the integration event between two black stars with a mass of 100 and 140 times the mass of the sun, to be a giant black hole with a mass with a mass of more than 225 suns.
This event, which scientists gave the symbol “GW 231123”, scored a new record that challenges traditional theories on how to form star black holes, opening the door to deeper scientific questions about the emergence of “gravity monsters” in the universe.
The largest dual black holes system
Professor Mark Hanam, one of the monitoring participants, says in Statement “This is the largest dual black holes system that we monitor through gravitational waves, and introduces real challenges to our understanding of how these objects are.”
According to traditional theories, the mass of black holes is not supposed to reach this size through the growth of stars only, which is likely that this merger is caused by a serial integration between smaller black holes, just like an ice ball that gradually grows.
It was not only in the bloc, but that the two holes were rotating quickly approaching the highest theoretical limit, according to the general relativity.
“This reference is one of the most complex what we have monitored, which is a big boost to develop our theoretical models,” says Dr. Charlie Hoy of the University of Portsmouth in the statement.
Transcend the limits of knowledge
Scientists believe at every stage that they have become known “the limits” of how the universe works, but discoveries such as “GW 231123”, caused by the integration of very huge black holes, came to destroy what was believed to be “limits of knowledge”, revealing the existence of things they did not expect, such as black holes with masses that are not possible according to the traditional models, a rotation at huge speeds, and scenarios that are more Complexing the mere collapse of a star.
Details of this discovery are currently presented at the 24th International Conference on General Force and Attraction, and the 16th conference of Idardo Amaldi on gravitational waves, which started in Glasgow, UK on July 14, and concludes on the 18th of the same month.