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[Log4Girlz]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160223175602.htm

"On September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes 29 and 36 times the mass of the Sun. Such an event is expected to be dark, but the Fermi Space Telescope detected a gamma-ray burst just a fraction of a second after LIGO's signal. New research suggests that the two black holes might have resided inside a single, massive star whose death generated the gamma-ray burst."

Ok I just had to post this, I never thought of such a scenario. Fucking amazing.

 

[Woorloog]

Black holes inside a star? I assume the star was collapsing and the collapse formed two black holes, which then merged?

 

[Jeremy]

eli5

 

[Sesha]

Sounds like the ultimate attack of a PS1-era FF final boss.

 

[John Kowalski]

waves already proving their worth

 

[dabig2]

Normally, when a massive star reaches the end of its life, its core collapses into a single black hole. But if the star was spinning very rapidly, its core might stretch into a dumbbell shape and fragment into two clumps, each forming its own black hole.

A very massive star as needed here often forms out of the merger of two smaller stars. And since the stars would have revolved around each other faster and faster as they spiraled together, the resulting merged star would be expected to spin very quickly.

After the black hole pair formed, the star's outer envelope rushed inward toward them. In order to power both the gravitational wave event and the gamma-ray burst, the twin black holes must have been born close together, with an initial separation of order the size of the Earth, and merged within minutes. The newly formed single black hole then fed on the infalling matter, consuming up to a Sun's worth of material every second and powering jets of matter that blasted outward to create the burst.

What in the actual FUCK, universe. Damn, I hope someone creates a graphic simulation of this soon.

 

[[Fugo]]

I'm picturing this like the elusive eggs with two yolks

 

[Jonbo298]

eli5

"It's the cosmic equivalent of a pregnant woman carrying twins inside her belly," says Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

The theory seems logical but my mind is blown understanding the odds of this happening.

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

"It's the cosmic equivalent of a pregnant woman carrying twins inside her belly," says Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

The theory seems logical but my mind is blown understanding the odds of this happening.

The odds of it happening? The universe is big.

 

[John Kowalski]

"It's the cosmic equivalent of a pregnant woman carrying twins inside her belly," says Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

The theory seems logical but my mind is blown understanding the odds of this happening.

It probably happens once every day somewhere in the universe.

 

[PeregrinSe7en]

What in the actual FUCK, universe. Damn, I hope someone creates a graphic simulation of this soon.

i second this notion

 

[Log4Girlz]

It probably happens once every day somewhere in the universe.

*mindblown.gif*

 

[Baconsaurus Rex]

The odds of it happening? The universe is big.

Let me rephrase it then: the odds of us observing it.

 

[Jonbo298]

Probably true. We just haven't witnessed it enough, obviously, so my brain doesn't comprehend the odds well. Then again, some of the theories about the size (if there is one) of the universe itself is jolting enough.

 

[Air]

That's really interesting. A star pregnant with twins.

 

[Orbis Tabula]

Let me rephrase it then: the odds of us observing it.

Well, I think the only reason we observed this one was because it was incredibly "loud" (for lack of a better word). We're probably biased towards seeing cases like this, actually, since black hole collisions are so energetic that they make a lot of noise.

 

[Mengy]

That's fucking awesome.

 

[GeordieMark]

I barely understand this, but it sounds cool. Go science!

 

[Bold One]

sounds like science fiction

 

[Divvy]

What in the actual FUCK, universe. Damn, I hope someone creates a graphic simulation of this soon.

Some video simulations here https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/videos

I went to a show featuring Neil Degrasse Tyson last night and he was absolutely giddy about this.

Well, I think the only reason we observed this one was because it was incredibly "loud" (for lack of a better word). We're probably biased towards seeing cases like this, actually, since black hole collisions are so energetic that they make a lot of noise.

Yup, the collision of these two black holes released 100x more energy in an instant than the rest of the observable universe combined. And we only measured it because it moved a mirror 1/1000 the diameter of a proton here on earth.