Astronomers Release 161 New Black Hole Mergers, Lifting Gravitational-Wave Total to 390
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Jun 1
Astronomers Release 161 New Black Hole Mergers, Lifting Gravitational-Wave Total to 390
6 articles · Updated · Space.com · Jun 1
GWTC-5 adds 161 new black hole merger signals detected by LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA between April 2024 and January 2025, sharply expanding the gravitational-wave catalog.
390 total black hole mergers have now been identified through gravitational waves, with detectors currently finding new events as often as three to four times a week during observing runs.
Two 2024 signals—GW241011 and GW241110—show evidence of second-generation black holes formed in earlier mergers, pointing to merger chains in dense stellar environments rather than only massive binary stars.
GW240615, a 26- and 30-solar-mass merger more than 3 billion light-years away, was localized to just 6 square degrees, a precision that could improve gravitational-wave measurements of the Hubble constant.
GW250114, from a 34- and 32-solar-mass merger about 1 billion light-years away, enabled the most accurate test yet of general relativity and supported Hawking's black hole area theorem ahead of another observing run later this year.
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GWTC-5.0 and the Gravitational-Wave Revolution: 161 New Black Hole Mergers, Record-Breaking Discoveries, and the Future of Cosmic Exploration
Overview
The Gravitational Wave Transient Catalogue-5.0 (GWTC-5.0) marks a major milestone in gravitational astronomy, showcasing a vast collection of 161 new signals from colliding black holes. Released online with supporting scientific papers, GWTC-5.0 covers detections made mainly by the LIGO and Virgo detectors between April 2024 and January 2025. This surge in discoveries, celebrated by researchers worldwide, highlights the rapid progress in detector technology and data analysis. The new catalogue not only expands our knowledge of black hole mergers but also demonstrates the growing maturity and impact of gravitational-wave astronomy.