A strange signal in the background hum created by a merger between two black holes could be the first ever detection of a system of three stellar-mass black holes locked in a gravitational waltz.

According to a new analysis of data from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, data from a 2019 binary black hole collision showed signs of an anomalous acceleration that suggests the presence of a third black hole .

"This is the first international discovery of clear evidence for a third compact object in a binary black hole merger event," says astronomer Wen-Biao Han of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"It reveals that the binary black holes in GW190814 may not have formed in isolation but were part of a more complex gravitational system, offering significant insights into the formati

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