On this day six years ago, the @LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave detectors observed the signal GW190521.
At the time it was their most massive and most distant binary black hole merger observed. The black-hole collision formed a 142 solar-mass black hole when the Universe was half its current age.
➡️ https://www.aei.mpg.de/296843/ligo-and-virgo-catch-their-biggest-fish-so-far
This movie, created by @mpi_grav researchers in the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Collaboration, shows a numerical simulation of the two black holes that inspiral, merge, and emit gravitational waves in the process.
Movie: N. Fischer, H. Pfeiffer, A. Buonanno (@mpi_grav), SXS Collaboration
#OTD #OnThisDay #GravitationalWaves #Physics #Astronomy #GW190521 #BlackHoles