GW190521
GW190521 (initially S190521g) was a gravitational wave signal resulting from the merger of two black holes. It was possibly associated with a coincident flash of light; if this association is correct, the merger would have occurred near a third supermassive black hole. The event was observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 21 May 2019 at 03:02:29 UTC, and published on 2 September 2020. The event had a Luminosity distance of 17 billion light years away from Earth, within a 765 deg2 area towards Coma Berenices, Canes Venatici, or Phoenix.
The GW event GW190521 observed by the LIGO Hanford (left), LIGO Livingston (middle), and Virgo (right) detectors | |
| Date | 21 May 2019 |
|---|---|
| Instrument | LIGO, Virgo |
| Right ascension | 12h 49m 42.3s |
| Declination | −34° 49′ 29″ |
| Epoch | J2000.0 |
| Distance | 5,300 megaparsecs (17,000 Mly) |
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At 85 and 66 solar masses (M☉) respectively, the two black holes comprising this merger are the largest progenitor masses observed to date. The resulting black hole had a mass equivalent to 142 times that of the Sun, making this the first clear detection of an intermediate-mass black hole. The remaining 9 solar masses were radiated away as energy in the form of gravitational waves.