A Black Hole Merger's "Kick" Was Measured For The First Time

A Black Hole Merger's "Kick" Was Measured For The First Time
By Andy Tomaswick (https://ift.tt/nqBQCal)

Black hole mergers are some of the most violent events in the universe. Just how violent is becoming more clear in part due to a new paper published in Nature Astronomy. For the first time, it tracks the “recoil” that the newly formed black hole gets from asymmetric gravitational waves that are released during the merger. Turns out they are strong enough to “kick” the new, supermassive combined black hole into motion at a speed of thousands of kilometers a second.

September 29, 2025 at 05:11PM
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