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simulation credit: Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Project



sit back and watch two black holes merge

inspired by the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, this simulation video plays in slow motion but would take about one third of a second if run in real time

set on a cosmic stage the black holes are posed in front of stars, gas, and dust

their extreme gravity lenses the light from behind them into Einstein rings as they spiral closer and finally merge into one

the otherwise invisible gravitational waves generated as the massive objects rapidly coalesce cause the visible image to ripple and slosh both inside and outside the Einstein rings even after the black holes have merged

dubbed GW150914, the gravitational waves detected by LIGO are consistent with the merger of 36 and 31 solar mass black holes at a distance of 1300 million light-years

the final, single black hole has 63 times the mass of the Sun, with the remaining 3 solar masses converted into energy in gravitational waves

since then the LIGO and VIRGO gravitational wave observatories have reported several more detections of merging massive systems, while last week the Event Horizon Telescope reported the first horizon-scale image of a black hole























in apod.nasa.gov/apod