LIGO detected two gravitational waves coming from the same area on the same day. This unusual event may have been caused by the same wave splitting in two Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2214685-puzzling-signals-seen-by-ligo-may-be-gravitational-wave-split-in-two/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Tag: gravitational waves
To Hunt Gravitational Waves, Scientists Had to Create the Quietest Spot on Earth
The largest physics detector on Earth hunts gravitational waves. But it needs to be really, really quiet to find them. Source: https://www.livescience.com/ligo-detector-really-hates-noise.html
Astronomers find a golden glow from a distant stellar collision
On August 17, 2017, scientists made history with the first direct observation of a merger between two neutron stars. It was the first cosmic event detected in both gravitational waves and the entire spectrum of light, from gamma rays to radio emissions. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-08-astronomers-golden-distant-stellar-collision.html…
Gravitational waves could settle mystery of the universe’s expansion
Supernovae and the big bang’s afterglow give us conflicting numbers on how fast the universe is expanding. Gravitational waves could help settle things Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2214225-gravitational-waves-could-settle-mystery-of-the-universes-expansion/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Arecibo Observatory gets $12.3 million grant
Arecibo in Puerto Rico was completed in 1963. In recent years, it has weathered multiple hurricanes. The emergency supplemental funds – supported by the U.S. Congress – represent an investment in the future of this large, famous and much-loved radio dish. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/arecibo-observatory-12-3-million-grant-upgrade…
LIGO and Virgo probably spotted the first black hole swallowing up a neutron star
In a first, astronomers may just have detected gravitational waves from a black hole merging with a neutron star. Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ligo-virgo-gravitational-waves-first-black-hole-swallowing-neutron-star4…
Fastest eclipsing binary, a valuable target for gravitational wave studies
Observations made with a new instrument developed for use at the 2.1-meter (84-inch) telescope at the National Science Foundation’s Kitt Peak National Observatory have led to the discovery of the fastest eclipsing white dwarf binary yet known. Clocking in with an orbital period of only 6.91 minutes, the rapidly orbiting stars are expected to be one of the strongest sources of…
Discovering exoplanets with gravitational waves
In a recent paper in Nature Astronomy, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute/AEI) in Potsdam and from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in Saclay, Paris suggest how the planned space-based gravitational-wave observatory LISA can detect exoplanets orbiting white dwarf binaries everywhere in the Milky Way and in the nearby Magellanic Clouds….
Redefining the limits of measurement accuracy
For centuries, humans have been expanding their understanding of the world through more and more precise measurement of light and matter. Today, quantum sensors achieve extremely accurate results. An example of this is the development of atomic clocks, which are expected to neither gain nor lose more than a second in thirty billion years. Gravitational waves were detected via quantum sensors…
Clocks, gravity and the limits of relativity
A hundred years ago today, Einstein’s theory of gravity was first put to the test when Arthur Eddington observed light “bending” around the sun during a solar eclipse. A century later, scientists are still searching for the limits of the theory. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/clocks-gravity-limits-of-relativity…