Rare second generation black holes spotted merging

Scientists report two black hole mergers whose larger partners look like second generation survivors of earlier collisions. The LIGO Virgo KAGRA network recorded the events a month apart, each marked by rapid spins and sharp mass imbalances. GW241011, about 700 million light years away, included one of the fastest spinners; GW241110, 2.4 billion light years distant, showed a black hole rotating against its orbit, a first. The signals matched Einstein’s predictions, with GW241011 producing an overtone like hum and a clear view in the waveform of the larger hole deforming as it spun.