When two galaxies collide, their central black holes merge, emitting gravitational waves. Astronomers theorize that a recoil effect sometimes kicks the merged black hole out of the galaxy while dragging nearby stars along for the ride. Researchers from SRON and Radboud University have now made a prediction of what these clusters will look like to identify them and prove their existence….
Tag: gravitational waves
Scientists Have Made Bose-Einstein Condensates in Space for the First Time
On board the International Space Station since May 2018 is a mini-fridge-size facility called the Cold Atom Lab (CAL), capable of chilling atoms in a vacuum down to temperatures one ten billionth of a degree above absolute zero. It is, for all intents and purposes, one of the coldest spots in the known universe. And according to a new study published…
Black holes are like a hologram
The theory of relativity describes black holes as being spherical, smooth and simple. Quantum theory describes them as being extremely complex and full of information. New research now proposes a surprising solution to this apparent duality. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/black-holes-are-like-a-hologram…
General Relativity passes the Ratio’s Test
Using gravitational waves to approximate pi, physicists see no problem with Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Source: https://www.livescience.com/general-relativity-passes-ratios-test.html
New closest-known black hole lies in a visible star system
Only 1,000 light-years away, the star system can be seen with the unaided eye. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/closest-black-hole-hr-6819-eso-telescopium…
Future detectors to detect millions of black holes and the evolution of the universe
Gravitational-wave astronomy provides a unique new way to study the expansion history of the Universe. On 17 August 2017, the LIGO and Virgo collaborations first detected gravitational waves from a pair of neutron stairs merging. The gravitational wave signal was accompanied by a range of counterparts identified with electromagnetic telescopes. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-04-future-detectors-millions-black-holes.html…
A unique (so far) gravitational wave signal
LIGO and Virgo detectors have now captured the first gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger where the black hole masses are unequal. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/a-gravitational-wave-signal-like-none-before…
What are gravitational waves?
First postulated by Albert Einstein in 1916 but not observed directly until September 2015, gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/definition-what-are-gravitational-waves…
Astrophysicist Gets Magnets Stuck Up Nose While Inventing Coronavirus Device
An Australian astrophysicist has been admitted to hospital after getting four magnets stuck up his nose in an attempt to invent a device that stops people touching their faces during the coronavirus outbreak. The Guardian reports: Dr Daniel Reardon, a research fellow at a Melbourne university, was building a necklace that sounds an alarm on facial contact, when the mishap occurred…
‘Cosmic String’ Gravitational Waves Could Solve Antimatter Mystery
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: Billions of years ago, soon after the Big Bang, cosmic inflation stretched the tiny seed of our universe and transformed energy into matter. Physicists think inflation initially created the same amount of matter and antimatter, which annihilate each other on contact. But then something happened that tipped the scales in favor of…