The sound waves signal the existence of gravitational waves – ripples in the fabric of space and time set off by the tremendous forces involved in the collision – that were generated as the two black holes merged.
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The researchers said on Thursday they identified gravitational waves, described as ripples in space and time, coming from two distant black holes that orbited one another and smashed together at high speed to form a single, larger black hole, Reuters reported.
“Before we started detecting gravitational waves, looking out at the universe was like watching an orchestra without any sound”.
“With this discovery, we humans are embarking on a marvelous new quest: the quest to explore the warped side of the universe”, said LIGO co-founder Kip Thorne. After long years of searching for experimental evidence, researchers at the LIGO Collaboration were finally able to confirm Einstein’s claim after they have detected subtle disturbances from these gravitational waves with the use of interferometers. Scientists predict that the discovery could open a new window to unravel hidden secrets of the universe.
“The field of gravitational wave astronomy is now a reality”.
“In 1992, when LIGO’s initial funding was approved, it represented the biggest investment NSF had ever made”, she said. But hunting them down took decades of hard work. “This is remarkable; up until now we’ve been deaf”. Gravitational waves were discovered by physicist Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, 100 years ago.
The new facilities will help astrophysicists pinpoint the precise location of cataclysmic events such as black hole mergers and supernovas.
“The discovery of gravitational waves is, I think, the most important breakthrough in modern science”, Szabolcs Marka told CNN in an interview Thursday. When two massive space objects, like black holes, swirls around each other, said Daniel Batcheldor of the Physics and Space Sciences at Florida Institute of Technology. Suddenly we know how to listen.
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Both of LIGO’s four-kilometer super-antennas, one in Washington State and the other in Louisiana, recorded the chirp in September.
