‘The beacons were lit!’ A system to detect and map merging black holes

New Haven CT (SPX) Feb 08, 2026

An international collaboration of astrophysicists that includes researchers from Yale has created and tested a detection system that uses gravitational waves to map out the locations of merging black holes – known as supermassive black hole binaries – around the universe.

Such a map would provide a vital new way to explore and understand astronomy and physics, just as X-rays and radio wave