On the synergy of using Athena and LISA to explore the strong gravity

The European Space Agency has released a piece of news on the synergy of using Athena and LISA to explore the strong gravity. In particular, the project scientists of both missions reported on the possibility to observe for the first time the merging of supermassive black holes. While LISA will report on the gravitational wave identifying the location, Athena will observe how the collision affects the surrounding gas of the newly born black hole.

This multi-messenger science is only one of the possible synergies that will be described in the coming Multi-messenger-Athena Synergy White Paper.