Gravitational Waves Discovered! Here's What You Need To Know

The very first gravitational wave has been detected by LIGO, proving Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity! Where did it come from and what does it mean for the future of space science?

Read More:
Gravitational Waves Detected for First Time
“A century after being proposed by physicist Albert Einstein, scientists have made the first detection of gravitational waves -- massive celestial objects on the move causing spacetime itself to ripple -- a historic discovery that opens up an entirely new way of studying the cosmos.”

Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
“A century after the fundamental predictions of Einstein and Schwarzschild, we report the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first direct observation of a binary black hole system merging to form a single black hole. Our observations provide unique access to the properties of space-time in the strong-field, high-velocity regime and confirm predictions of general relativity for the nonlinear dynamics of highly disturbed black holes.”

Gravitational Waves Detected 100 Years After Einstein’s Prediction
“For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos.”
____________________

DNews is dedicated to satisfying your curiosity and to bringing you mind-bending stories & perspectives you won't find anywhere else! New videos twice daily.

[MrThepatrickshow]

1: According to Einstein, gravity is nothing more than curvature in spacetime around massive objects.

2: In the case of super-massive objects that spin extremely fast, they don't just curve, but warp and drag spacetime around them.

3: In the case of super-massive, spinning black holes, that collide with one another, they create huge ripples (waves) in space time that propogate outward in all three dimensions at the speed of light for vast distances, gradually weakening with distance.

4: These ripples in spacetime mean that space is stretching and contracting. However the speed of light *through* spacetime is a constant. The LIGO detectors were set up to detect when two very long laser beams which are normally in phase with one another go out of phase... which means their relative speeds changed... which can only happen if space itself becomes distorted.

5: This doesn't prove Einstein *yet again*. It proves his theory *once and for all*.

[ajax]

Still not as cool as the selfie spoon stick

[PhysicsOnline]

Great explanation and so much enthusiasm!

[fay]

I'm actually really excited about it. All day I've been trying to talk to people in my work about it and not a single one of them are interested. Here is me thinking I was the only one that could see how massive this is.

[OutlawMaxV]

Holy shit this so amazing, what a time to be alive!

[whatamarvel]

She's sooo excited about this and what's sad is most people probably don't care.

[ToshisanMotonaka]

Plot Twist: someone mircowaved a hotpocket

[minhm]

First Kanye takes Waves now gravity... Smh

[wildescience]

OH MY GRAVITY! Who else is super excited by this news?

[choco_easty]

Ah science! I just love the excitement science brings to the table!

[IgWannA]

Julia's enthusiasm is infectious.

[AnupamBhogal]

those aren't mountains those are waves

[paulsolis]

What if it's actually aliens just fucking with us?

[theshadowless]

People usually get so much hype over a trailer for a game/movie but the first few seconds usually display my reaction to interesting things like gravitational waves.

[drimwalkr]

So, if I understand this correctly, 2 black holes colliding and creating gravitational waves is kind of like an earthquake throughout time and space...

So, is it possible we could analyze the frequency of the waves and track them back to the epicenter, thus giving us a subject to observe with our new black hole telescope? I mean, it's not as simple as all of that, but it's possible, right?

[StopMotionMakr]

Can I finally send an email to my twin brother that's trapped in a black hole far far away?

[Ostnizdasht]

That's it Julia, talk nerdy to me girl.

[Steampunk_Star_Raisin]

Einstein is still around. His brain exists still in slides. He has just lost the ability to be self aware...

[solobassoon]

A couple of questions:
1: Do you only see one burst of gravitational waves from one event?
2: How do the scientists know when to listen for the waves? Do they just sit back and wait?
3: The collision of the two black holes in question here can not be the only event in time that has created gravitational waves. Will there not be many events all the time that create these waves?

[Adelbert]

I really like how you delivered this news enthusiastically. It feels comforting that I'm able to listen to someone that sounds interested also in the topic. I don't get that around here.