LIGO & VIRGO have detected the collision of a black hole with a mystery object?

Recently, a distant collision between a black hole and a mystery object was revealed. At first glance, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo interferometer, detected waves from this collision in August 2019. Here is everything you need to know about this bizarre collision.

Image Credit: NASA

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Black Hole collision with an unknown object

LIGO, which is a large scale physics observatory located in Washington claimed at the time, that the collision was between a black hole and a neutron star. But the gravitational waves emanating from collision paints a different picture. A neutron star is a collapsed core of a giant star.

As per the reports by a science portal, the black hole appears to be 23 times as massive as the sun but it has crashed into a compact object of about 2.6 solar masses. This throws the neutron star prediction into doldrums, as there is a 2.5-solar-mass cap for an object to be considered as a neutron star. Hence, the fact that this mystery object colliding with the black hole is most likely not a neutron star.

Source: NASA

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Is the mystery object a black hole?

The mystery object has a mass of 2.6 solar masses. Hence, smaller than most of the lightweight black holes ever observed by us. The smallest black hole ever observed is five solar masses. Cole Miller who is an Astrophysicist from the University of Maryland mentioned in an interview given to a science portal that, the mystery object is either the heaviest known neutron star or we have the lightest known black hole.

After LIGO, and its sister observatory in Italy, Virgo, detected the black hole’s collision with the unknown object dozens of other ground-based and space telescopes rummaged the sky for light radiating from the crash site. However, they found nothing. As per the reports of a renowned science portal, a researcher revealed that if in future collisions, the mid-size objects tend to be between about 2.5 and three solar masses.

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This means that astronomers have uncovered a heavier variety of neutron star which have not been known or seen in the past. However, this may also mean that there is a population of previously overlooked, petite black holes in the space. This discovery has opened many new doors and brought to surface many questions that weren't being asked before about black holes and neutron stars.

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Generally, black holes team up with partners of similar mass and density. Hence, most mergers detected by LIGO and Virgo involve almost equally matched black holes. Strangely, the larger black hole involved in this merger was about nine times as massive as its collision counterpart. Astronomers are still seeking an answer to the question that what could have brought such an uncanny couple together.