{"id":788889,"date":"2026-05-11T14:16:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/788889\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T14:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:16:20","slug":"scientists-just-discovered-how-the-universe-builds-monster-black-holes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/788889\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Just Discovered How the Universe Builds Monster Black Holes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Supermassive<\/a>Astronomers studying gravitational waves have uncovered evidence that the Universe\u2019s largest black holes may grow through repeated collisions rather than forming directly from collapsing stars. Credit: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The biggest black holes in the Universe may be built through chains of violent mergers deep inside crowded star clusters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The largest black holes ever detected through gravitational waves may not have formed directly from collapsing stars, according to new research led by Cardiff University. Instead, scientists say these enormous objects were likely built through repeated black hole collisions inside extremely crowded star clusters.<\/p>\n

The international team studied version 4.0 of LIGO\u2013Virgo\u2013KAGRA\u2019s Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC4), which includes 153 highly confident black hole merger detections.<\/p>\n

Researchers investigated whether the heaviest black holes in the catalog could be \u201csecond-generation\u201d black holes. These objects would form after earlier black holes merged together, then later merged again inside dense star clusters, where stars can be packed up to a million times more tightly than in the region surrounding our Sun.<\/p>\n

The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, suggest the most massive black holes seen through gravitational waves belong to a distinct population shaped by repeated mergers rather than ordinary stellar collapse.<\/p>\n

\"Globular<\/a>About 28,000 light-years away, the globular cluster M80 is home to hundreds of thousands of stars bound together by gravity. Crowded environments like this can help drive the growth of black holes through consecutive mergers. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, and A. Sarajedini (University of Florida)Gravitational Waves Reveal How Giant Black Holes Grow<\/p>\n

\u201cGravitational-wave astronomy is now doing more than counting black hole mergers,\u201d explains lead author Dr. Fabio Antonini from Cardiff University\u2019s School of Physics and Astronomy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is starting to reveal how black holes grow, where they grow, and what that tells us about the lives and deaths of massive stars. This is exciting because we can use the information to test our understanding of how stars and clusters evolve in the Universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

By studying the gravitational-wave signals, the researchers identified two separate groups of black holes:<\/p>\n