Lieke van Son

In space, merging black hole pairs are common, and often one is noticeably more massive than the other. This mass difference isn't just a number: it's a key to their shared history. Astrophysicists studied the stable mass transfer channel — a process where matter flows smoothly from one star to another without disrupting the system.

Detectors pick up the “ripples” of gravitational waves from mergers of black holes or neutron stars — like an echo from the kitchen where a cosmic dish was being prepared. Astronomers are trying to reconstruct the recipe: how two massive stars turned into an exotic pair and collided.