Overview
- The LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Collaboration published GWTC-5.0 on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, bringing the cumulative catalog to 390 gravitational-wave transients and adding 150 new compact-binary candidates with p_astro ≥ 0.5.
- Researchers provide detailed source-property measurements for 103 new candidates that pass a false-alarm-rate threshold of less than one per year, giving a controlled sample for statistical study.
- All of the newly cataloged high-confidence candidates are consistent with binary black hole mergers; no new binary neutron star or neutron-star–black-hole systems are reported in this update.
- GWTC-5.0 includes very high-fidelity events such as GW250114_082203 with network signal-to-noise ratio above 70, and well-localized or kinematically unusual systems like GW240615 and GW241127 that enable precise tests of general relativity and source physics.
- The collaboration demonstrated 'astrophysical calibration' on GW240925 and GW250207, using the signals themselves to retroactively correct detector calibration errors (including a mistaken upload at LIGO Hanford) and to tighten estimates of masses, spins, distances, and sky location, a step that could enable automated, signal-driven calibration as event rates rise.