The discovery was made by twin detectors in America, which are run by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). Following major upgrades begun in 2010, LIGO re-opened as “Advanced LIGO” in September 2015 and detected its first gravitational waves within days.
Advertisement
“Scientists call these sounds ‘chirps, ‘ because some events that generate gravitation waves would sound like a bird’s chirp”. LIGO has two facilities: one in Washington state, the other in Louisiana, who will not be alone for long, as VIRGO, a gravitational wave observatory in Italy is joining them by the end of 2016.
“The area of the final black hole is greater than the sum of the areas of the initial black holes as predicted by my black hole area theorem”, he said.
Did Einstein predict gravitational waves? . The scientists converted the wave signal into audio waves and listened to the sounds of the black holes merging. The detection was hailed as a triumph for a controversial, exquisitely crafted, billion-dollar physics experiment and as confirmation of a key prediction of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. When a gravitational wave passes by, the path of the laser stretches slightly and hits the detector a little differently. “We don’t know what this will tell us about the universe 200 years from now”. “I am sure the LIGO team is going to keep us busy with many further surprises”.
Esteemed physicist Stephen Hawking has celebrated the discovery of gravitational waves, calling it a “groundbreaking” find. “In the past, we’ve had to rely on light that is coming from these events”. What’s being billed as the biggest scientific breakthrough in 100 years is based on the LIGO method (more on that in just a bit).
I must confess, I was expecting something more grand, cinematic or dramatic, but there you go. “We will hear when a black hole eats a neutron star”, Marka said. Discovery of gravitational waves would confirm their existence.
Advertisement
She says these observed waves will make it possible to watch never before seen science, like seeing into the heart of a supernova and looking back to the moment the universe was created.
