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GW190521
Gravitational wave observation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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GW190521 (initially S190521g)[5] 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.[2][6] The event was observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 21 May 2019 at 03:02:29 UTC,[7] and published on 2 September 2020.[4][5][8] The event had a Luminosity distance of 17 billion light years away from Earth,[note 1][5][9] within a 765 deg2 area[note 2][10] towards Coma Berenices, Canes Venatici, or Phoenix.[1][2][6][11]
![]() The GW event GW190521 observed by the LIGO Hanford (left), LIGO Livingston (middle), and Virgo (right) detectors | |
Date | 21 May 2019 ![]() |
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Instrument | LIGO, Virgo[1][2] |
Right ascension | 12h 49m 42.3s[3] |
Declination | −34° 49′ 29″[3] |
Epoch | J2000.0 |
Distance | 5,300 megaparsecs (17,000 Mly)[4] |
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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.[12] 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.[4][5][8]