GW190814

GW 190814 was a gravitational wave (GW) signal observed by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on 14 August 2019 at 21:10:39 UTC, and having a signal-to-noise ratio of 25 in the three-detector network. The signal was associated with the astronomical super event S190814bv, located 790 million light years away, in location area 18.5 deg² towards Cetus or Sculptor. No optical counterpart was discovered despite an extensive search of the probability region.

Discovery

In June 2020, astronomers reported details of a compact binary merging, in the "mass gap" of cosmic collisions, of a first-ever 2.50–2.67 M_☉ "mystery object", either an extremely heavy neutron star (that was theorized not to exist) or a too-light black hole, with a 22.2–24.3 M_☉ black hole, that was detected as the gravitational wave GW190814.

"We don't know if this object is the heaviest known neutron star or the lightest known black hole, but either way it breaks a record."

The mass of the lighter component is estimated to be 2.6 times the mass of the Sun (M_☉ ≈ 1.9891×10³⁰ kg), placing it in the aforementioned mass gap between neutron stars and black holes.

Despite an intensive search, no optical counterpart to the gravitational wave was observed. The lack of emitted light could be consistent with either a situation in which a black hole entirely consumed a neutron star or the merger of two black holes.

See also

• Gravitational-wave astronomy
• List of gravitational wave observations
• Multi-messenger astronomy

Notes

References

External links

• "Detections". LIGO.
• Video (2:25): GW190814 binary black hole merger – overview on YouTube (24 June 2020; Science Fellow)
• Video (1:32): GW190814 binary black hole merger (animation) on Vimeo (24 June 2020; LIGO Scientific Collaboration)
• Video (1:32): GW190814 binary black hole merger (animation) on YouTube (23 June 2020; Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics)
• Video (0:10): GW190814 gravitational wave from mysterious object on YouTube (23 June 2020; Gravitational-wave Open Science Center (GWOSC))