Binary black hole

Computer simulation of the black hole merger GW150914. The background is distorted as the intense gravity from the merger causes gravitational lensing.

A Binary Black Hole (often abbreviated BBH), are two black holes in close orbit around each other. The two black holes will eventually merge into one releasing a large amount of gravitational waves.

Discovery

For years the existence of binary black holes was only theoretical. Proving they exist was a challenge due to the nature of black holes. Although if two black holes were to ever merge this would cause a significant amount of gravitational waves to be released. The existence of binary black holes (and gravitational waves themselves) was proven when on September 2015, LIGO detected GW150914.

Binary Black Hole Media

• In this visualization a binary system containing two supermassive black holes and their accretion disks is initially viewed from above. After about 25 seconds, the camera tips close to the orbital plane to reveal the most dramatic distortions produced by their gravity. The different colors of the accretion disks make it easier to track where light from each black hole turns up.