More than 1,000 scientists from different parts of the world have observed gravitational waves for the second time.
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Scott and her team have been analysing data collected by the two Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors in the United States – the same detectors that picked up that historic gravitational wave signal on 14 September 2015, before it was analysed and announced in February.
Using the twin, US-based Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, the second detection occurred on December 26 a year ago and is named as the “Boxing Day event” (after the holiday celebrated in Britain).
The UTRGVCenter for Gravitational Wave Astronomy in Brownsville works closely with LIGO, and the algorithm that made the first detection possible was developed by UTRGV physics professors Soumya D. Mohanty and Malik Rakhmanov in collaboration with University of Florida faculty.
Predicted by Einstein back in 1916, gravitational waves are ripples in the curvature of spacetime that emanate from the most explosive and violent events in the Universe, such as a star exploding or a black hole merger.
LIGO’s first detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes occurred September 14, 2015 and it confirmed a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity. The ripple was a result of two black holes in the final stages of merging located 1.3 billion light years away, weighing 29 and 36 solar masses, respectively. “It is a promising start to mapping the populations of black holes in our universe”, she said.
Today’s announcement is the second set of gravitational wave ripples detected by LIGO, following the historic first detection announced in February of this year.
Also, interestingly, one of the binary black holes in the second detection “was spinning like a top”, LIGO said, the first time it could say so with confidence.
At 9:38:53 CST on December 25, 2015, scientists observed gravitational waves-ripples in the fabric of spacetime-for the second time. The black holes colliding, as detailed in the journal Physical Review Letters journal, were smaller than the previous collision observed by scientists. Scientists said it corresponded well with Einstein’s theory and that there was no ambiguity in their discovery. They combined to create a black hole, 21 times as massive as the sun. “Clearly, this vindicates our stand that black holes are the new tools in gravitational wave astronomy”, Roychoudhury said.
More gravitational-wave detectors, including one called Virgo in Europe, are scheduled to come online in the near future, allowing astronomers to pinpoint the locations of these events and feel the emanations of doom ever more sensitively.
The discovery was made by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
All objects sitting in the path of gravitational waves rhythmically move further apart and closer together as the space they exist in is stretched and squeezed.
Gravitational waves are created by cataclysmic events in our universe, such as two merging black holes.
On September 14 a year ago, the detectors picked up the very first signal of a gravitational wave, which stretched each detector by as little as a fraction of a proton’s diameter.
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LIGO is offline at the moment, but its second run later in 2016 should reveal even more information about the universe as we listen to more phenomena that speak the language of gravity.
