What is LIGO black hole? LIGO and Virgo recently observed a black hole merger with a final mass of 142 times that of the sun, making it the largest of its kind observed in gravitational waves to date. The event is...
How does a gravitational wave detector work? Light pulses in a gravitational wave detector Light that has left the source together, travels together (so green and red pulses are side by side) until the beam splitter. The beam splitter then sends...
Who discovered the detection of gravitational waves? Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity. What machine detects gravitational waves? The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory...
Why are the gravitational waves difficult to detect? But these types of objects that create gravitational waves are far away. And sometimes, these events only cause small, weak gravitational waves. The waves are then very weak by the time they reach...
How black holes make gravitational waves? Ripples in spacetime, called gravitational waves, launched the black hole on its breakneck exit. As any two paired-up black holes spiral inward and coalesce, they emit these ripples, which stretch and squeeze space. What do...
What did gravitational waves prove? The signal was named GW150914 (from gravitational wave and the date of observation 2015-09-14). It was also the first observation of a binary black hole merger, demonstrating both the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems...
How gravitational waves affect us? From even the distance of the nearest star, gravitational waves would pass through us almost completely unnoticed. Although these ripples in spacetime carry more energy than any other cataclysmic event, the interactions are so weak that...
What is the significance of discovering gravitational waves? Detecting and analyzing the information carried by gravitational waves is allowing us to observe the Universe in a way never before possible, providing astronomers and other scientists with their first glimpses of literally...
What is the first direct detection of gravitational waves called? In 2015, scientists detected gravitational waves for the very first time. They used a very sensitive instrument called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory). These first gravitational waves happened when two black...
Are gravitational waves instant? Gravity isn’t instant, and turns out to propagate at exactly the speed of light. How fast does gravity pull? When gravity pulls objects toward the ground, it always causes them to accelerate at a rate of 9.8...