LIGO spots the first collision between neutron star and black hole

• Integrity Education, Delhi
• 30, Jun 2021

• Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Virgo Observatory detect gravitational waves from the distant cosmos.
• Until now, the LIGO-Virgo collaboration (LVC) of gravitational waves detectors has only been able to observe collisions between pairs of black holes or neutron stars.
• First confirmed detection of a neutron star-black hole (NS-BH) collision was observed in Jan 2020. 
• The discovery is named GW200105

About Neutron Star and Black Hole

• When a star that is more than eight times as massive as the Sun runs out of fuel, it undergoes a spectacular explosion called a supernova.
• What remains can be a neutron star or a black hole.
• Neutron stars are typically between 1.5 and 2 times as massive as the Sun, but are so dense that all their mass is packed into an object the size of a city.
• Black holes are even more extreme. There is no upper limit to how massive a black hole can be.