A significant astronomical event occurred when researchers observed the largest collision between two massive black holes, with masses of around 100 and 140 solar masses merging into a single entity approximately 225 solar masses. This merger presents challenges to existing black hole formation theories, particularly as black holes of this mass are generally not predicted by current stellar evolution models. Observations suggest that previous smaller black hole mergers may have contributed to the formation of these supermassive black holes, marking a crucial development in the field of astrophysics.
This is the most massive black hole binary we've observed through gravitational waves, and it presents a real challenge to our understanding of black hole formation.
Black holes this massive are forbidden through standard stellar evolution models. One possibility is that the two black holes in this binary formed through earlier mergers of smaller black holes.
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