According to the National Geographic, the LIGO is a mirror-based experiment and the signal it received is characteristic of the expected sound of the death and merging of two black holes.
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The new discovery has encouraged further studies into gravitational waves around the world, and China is embarking on its own research, said Li Miao, dean of the Institute of Astronomy and Space Science of the university in south China’s Guangdong province. As the gravitational waves warped spacetime within LIGO’s gargantuan twin detectors, its exquisitely sensitive instruments registered vibrations on the order of thousands of the diameter of a proton. LIGO is an infermometer, established in 2002, which works by splitting a laser beam in two searching for interference when both halves are combined. Scientists announced the first detection of gravitational waves.
The announcement of a press conference on Thursday revived rumors that have been circulating in the scientific community for months that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) team might indeed have directly detected gravitational waves for the first time. Although Einstein created the idea, he remained uncertain regarding the waves, though they have provided evidence for black holes, something he was uncomfortable with as he knew his theory was too inadequate to mathematically describe.
It took 900 scientists, 10 years, and two observatories, but gravitational waves have been detected for the first time-the most important breakthrough in modern science, many say. In terms of scientific advancement, to quote Joe Biden, “This is a big fucking deal!” These discoveries drive our culture forward, making us all richer and more aware that our universe is a handsome and complex place.
“Apart from testing (Albert Einstein’s theory of) General Relativity, we could hope to see black holes through the history of the Universe”, Hawking told BBC. This an also be considered the ringing confirmation of the nature of black holes.
“We’re actually hearing them go thump in the night”. The theory predicted the existence of gravitational waves in space-time.
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It’s a whole new way of looking at the universe, Creighton said.
