29 Jun 2021 — For the first time, researchers in the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaborations have confirmed the detection of a collision between a black hole and a neutron star. In fact, the scientists detected not one but two such events occurring just 10 days apart in January 2020. The extreme events sent gravitational waves rippling across at least 900 million light-years to reach Earth. In each case, the neutron star was likely swallowed whole by its black hole partner.
The first merger, detected on January 5, 2020, involved a 9-solar-mass black hole and a 1.9-solar-mass neutron star. The second merger was detected on January 15, and involved a 6-solar-mass black hole and a 1.5-solar-mass neutron star. The results were published today, June 29, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
For more details, see the full LSC press release and the detection page for GW200105 and GW200115.
An online Zoom webinar discussing these results is scheduled for Thursday, July 1st at 10:00am Eastern Time.