Just two weeks left! On 23 August the 10th Open Day at our gravitational-wave detector GEO600 will take place.
https://www.geo600.org/openday2025
Just drop by GEO600 south of Hanover, Germany, between 12:00 and 16:00 CEST, talk to our researchers, and get insights into a cutting-edge research facility.
This year, there will also be an information booth for our distributed computing project @einsteinathome.
Meet ‘lite intermediate black holes,’ the supermassive black hole’s smaller, much more mysterious cousin
#Science #Space #BlackHoles #LIGO #LiteIMBH #IntermediateBlackHoles #Astrophysics #GravitationalWaves #SpaceScience #Astronomy #Universe #CosmicMystery
https://the-14.com/meet-lite-intermediate-black-holes-the-supermassive-black-holes-smaller-much-more-mysterious-cousin/
About nine years ago, in July 2017, it was finally time for “Good Night, LISA Pathfinder!” 
After 16 months of science measurements an international team deactivated the LISA Pathfinder satellite on the evening of the 18 July 2017.
https://www.aei.mpg.de/187318/good-night-lisa-pathfinder
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=AOS-RSIbp-k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOS-RSIbp-k
LISA Pathfinder has tested key technologies for LISA, the future gravitational-wave observatory in space, and has demonstrated their operative readiness.
A lot has happened since then, and now @LISA is being built for its launch, planned for 2035.
Great new film
Our @unihannover colleagues have produced a film about quantum optics and gravitational physics research, featuring inspiring pictures from several of our labs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otNPNzYwBpA
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=otNPNzYwBpA
German and English subtitles are available.
Less than three weeks left! On 23 August the 10th Open Day at our gravitational-wave detector GEO600 will take place.
https://www.geo600.org/openday2025
Just drop by GEO600 south of Hanover, Germany, between 12:00 and 16:00 CEST, talk to our researchers, and get insights into a cutting-edge research facility.
This year, there will also be an information booth for the distributed computing project @einsteinathome.
"A fresh theory on the Universe's origins suggests gravitational waves, not inflation, could explain cosmic structure, paving the way for verifiable predictions. "
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/07/250730030404.htm
#science #Physics #Astrophysics #gravitationalwaves
Astronomers have observed the largest black hole merger ever, with two massive black holes, each over 100 times the sun’s mass, colliding and sending ripples through space-time. Detected by LIGO, this event challenges our understanding of black hole formation.
#BlackHoles #GravitationalWaves #Space #GoodNews
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/science/massive-black-hole-collision-gravitational-waves
https://www.europesays.com/us/78316/ Physicists detect largest-ever merger of 2 black holes equal in size to 240 suns #BlackHoleMerger #BlackHoles #GravitationalWaves #InternationalCollaboration #MassiveBlackHole #Physics #Science #StellarEvolutionModels #UnitedStates #UnitedStates #US
LIGO detected the ultimate cosmic spin cycle - two black holes merged at Einstein's theoretical RPM limit, creating a 225-solar-mass monster. Scientists admit it'll take years to decode this gravitational 'ringtone' 
"Ripples in space-time from collision recorded by gravitational wave detector forces a rethink of how the objects form"
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jul/14/scientists-detect-biggest-ever-merger-of-two-massive-black-holes by Ian Sample reports on our discovery of #GW231123
The discovery of #GW231123 was announced today to scientists at the #GR24Amaldi16 meeting with talks by Amanda Farah (University of Chicago) and Sophie Bini (Caltech). International scientists heard about how we analysed such an unusual signal and what it could mean for our understanding of how black holes form
We are excited to announce the discovery of #GW231123, a gravitational-wave signal from the merger of two high-mass black holes to form one about 190–265 times the mass of our Sun
https://ligo.org/ligo-virgo-kagra-detect-most-massive-black-hole-merger-to-date/
LIGO has spotted the most massive black hole collision ever detected
Illustration of merging of black holes Shutterstock / Jurik Peter A record-breaking black hole smash-up just expanded our…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #BreakingNews #Astronomy #Blackholes #gravitationalwaves #Headlines #Topstories #TopStories
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/8886/
Good news for the Einstein Telescope 
The planned European third-generation gravitational-wave observatory is on the German shortlist of the National Prioritization Process for the realization of new research infrastructures.
This underscores that the German government recognizes the importance of the prepatory phase of the Einstein Telescope as a project of scientific, economic, and social significance for Germany.
Although inclusion on the shortlist does not guarantee funding, it is an important signal that the Einstein Telescope is being prioritized from a research policy perspective and demonstrates its potential to make a major contribution to the performance of the German science system.
Last night, there were two new gravitational-wave candidates.
S250701bp: black hole merger at a distance of 3.1 billion light-years (https://gracedb.ligo.org/superevents/S250701bp/view/)
S250701bq: black hole merger at a distance of 1.8 billion light-years (https://gracedb.ligo.org/superevents/S250701bq/view/)
Because only one LIGO@scicomm.xyz instrument observed the signals, their sky position could only be determined rather imprecisely.
The 3rd part of the 4th joint observing run of the gravitational-wave detectors has begun recently. The first three significant signal candidates were detected over the weekend.
S250628am: Merger of two black holes 2.9 billion light-years away S250629ae: Merger of two black holes 23 billion light-years away
S250629bs: Merger of two black holes 16 billion light-years away
Why are there two LIGO observatories?
LIGO has two detectors ~3000 km apart for three main reasons:
Noise discrimination – separating local vibrations from real signals by comparing distant data.
Signal timing – gravitational waves travel at light speed; timing differences over 10 ms rule out false signals.
Source localization – two sites help narrow wave origins; adding more (like Virgo) improves precision, as in the 2017 neutron star event.
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/ligo-detectors
Graphic by Mayara Pacheco
Our #Introduction: We are an international collaboration of scientists working to detect and study #GravitationalWaves
We made our first observation in 2015, and working with our colleagues in Virgo and KAGRA, have now produced a catalog of gravitational waves from the coalescence of black hole and neutron star binaries
We're currently in our fourth observing run, which features frequent new discoveries
We're happy to join Mastodon for some #SciComm
Today, the European Space Agency (ESA) and OHB System AG sealed their agreement to build ESA’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, @LISA
https://www.lisamission.org/industry/
“We are delighted that the European Space Agency has now chosen the industrial partner who will take on the manufacturing of LISA, marking another major step towards launch”, says Dr. Jonathan Gair, chair of the LISA Consortium council and group leader at @mpi_grav in Potsdam.
