Uploaded March 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This simulation by Vijay Varma, College of Arts & Sciences Klarman Fellow, shows the merger of a 35 solar-mass black hole with a 25 solar-mass black hole, followed by the recoil (kick) of the final black hole. The movie is sped-up after the merger to highlight the kick. The arrows indicate the spins (rotation) of the black holes—these interact with the orbital angular momentum (pink arrow), causing the orbital plane to wobble as the binary evolves. The blue and red orbs indicate patterns of gravitational waves generated in the collision. More details can be found at vijayvarma392.github.io/binaryBHexp.
This simulation by Vijay Varma, College of Arts & Sciences Klarman Fellow, shows the merger of a 35 solar-mass black hole with a 25 solar-mass black hole, followed by the recoil (kick) of the final black hole. The movie is sped-up after the merger to highlight the kick. The arrows indicate the spins (rotation) of the black holes—these interact with the orbital angular momentum (pink arrow), causing the orbital plane to wobble as the binary evolves. The blue and red orbs indicate patterns of gravitational waves generated in the collision. More details can be found at vijayvarma392.github.io/binaryBHexp.
