Masses in the Stellar Graveyard plot, complete to January 2025
The iconic "Masses in the Stellar Graveyard" plot is bursting at the seams with the addition of the latest verified gravitational wave (GW) detections made by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration. The plot shows the masses of announced GW detections (blue and orange dots) alongside those of black holes and neutron stars observed or detected through electromagnetic (EM) observations, through January 2025. Here, they are sorted from lowest to highest masses showing clearly how LVK and GW detectors can observe objects in the universe mostly unobservable by EM means. It also illustrates just how efficient GW interferometers are at making such observations: LVK has made these detections in 9.5 years; the EM observations represent about 60 years-worth of searching. [Credit: LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA / Aaron Geller / Northwestern] Link to interactive plot: https://ligo.northwestern.edu/media/mass-plot/index.html
- JPG
- Date
- ID
- ligo20260526a
- Type
- Chart
- Credit
- LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA / Aaron Geller / Northwestern


