Ever heard of Goldilocks and the three… black holes?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Black holes are either supermassive or quite small. Except for a medium-sized freak accident!
Researchers at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory were studying waves in space time – caused by enormous moving objects – when they detected a collision between two small black holes!
They combined into one “medium” black hole – the largest ever sighted from a collision.
Previously, astronomers thought a medium black hole like this one could never form. Now we understand better than ever the size limits of black hole formation.
Like Goldilocks says, these black holes are not too big nor too small, but “just right”.
Reference: LIGO Scientific and VIRGO and KAGRA Collaborations • A.G. Abac et al.