"... the last waltz of a pair of black holes shockingly larger than astrophysicists had been expecting.
One of them was 36 times as massive as the sun, the other , the other 29. As they approached the end, at half the speed of light, they were circling each other 250 times a second.
And then the ringing stopped as the two holes coalesced into a single black hole, a trapdoor in space with the equivalent mass of 62 suns. All in a fifth of a second, Earth time.
Dr. Weiss said you could reproduce the chirp by running your fingernails across the keys of a piano from the low end to middle C.
Lost in the transformation was three solar masses’ worth of energy, vaporized into gravitational waves in an unseen and barely felt apocalypse. As visible light, that energy would be equivalent to a billion trillion suns.
Really amazing stuff. A shocking amount of energy released. Wow.
is how little we really understand about how the Universe works. Until recently we didn't know that Dark Matter and Dark Energy exist. Not only that, but we've now determined that they make up the bulk of the mass in the Universe and we didn't even know it existed until recently.
I find the gravitational waves evidence really exciting and more proof that we barely grasp and understand how everything works.
how they connected this wave to that particular event?
The videos explain how the waves past through earth using "LIGO" to detect it.
It's quite fascinating. This is almost as groundbreaking when Galileo first peered through the telescope, and opened up a whole new world to us, over 400 years ago.
how they connected this wave to that particular event?
The videos explain how the waves past through earth using "LIGO" to detect it.
It's quite fascinating. This is almost as groundbreaking when Galileo first peered through the telescope, and opened up a whole new world to us, over 400 years ago.
I understand how they detected the gravitational wave. What I didn't get was how they know that wave was formed from that particular event of the two black holes colliding and not some other event. Maybe I missed something in the explanations and videos.
how they connected this wave to that particular event?
The videos explain how the waves past through earth using "LIGO" to detect it.
It's quite fascinating. This is almost as groundbreaking when Galileo first peered through the telescope, and opened up a whole new world to us, over 400 years ago.
I understand how they detected the gravitational wave. What I didn't get was how they know that wave was formed from that particular event of the two black holes colliding and not some other event. Maybe I missed something in the explanations and videos.
I agree, I can understand how the LIGO device works but in theory aren't there more than one event where two black holes collide that would cause gravitational waves? If so this means there are multiple sets of gravitational waves that LIGO could detect, how can you distinguish one from another? Maybe by the strength of the wave, but if they just found these waves in September how did they jump so quickly to the point to read their strength?
Also, one article mentioned physicists were able to 'hear' the two objects collide by listening to the wave patterns. While I do understand there are many 'waves' to detect when two black holes collide, but the collision itself is a singular event. Again, if they only found these waves in September, how did they get luckily enough to hear the singular event of the collision?
Pretty incredible that the program to construct.... Â
the observatory to prove this theorem began back in the '70's, given the relative lack of technology at the time. Even more incredible that Einstein predicted the existence of the gravitational waves over 100 years ago.
One MIT professor says in one of the videos that this will drastically change the way we will observe the universe, likening the breakthrough to the increase in the magnitude of our observational ability resulting from Galileo's first pointing a telescope toward the heavens. Just amazing.
the lasers in the present incarnation, known as Advanced LIGO, can detect changes in the length of one of those arms as small as one ten-thousandth the diameter of a proton.
Heavy stuff...
http://news.mit.edu/2016/ligo-first-detection-gravitational-waves-0211 - ( New Window )
One of them was 36 times as massive as the sun, the other , the other 29. As they approached the end, at half the speed of light, they were circling each other 250 times a second.
And then the ringing stopped as the two holes coalesced into a single black hole, a trapdoor in space with the equivalent mass of 62 suns. All in a fifth of a second, Earth time.
Dr. Weiss said you could reproduce the chirp by running your fingernails across the keys of a piano from the low end to middle C.
Lost in the transformation was three solar masses’ worth of energy, vaporized into gravitational waves in an unseen and barely felt apocalypse. As visible light, that energy would be equivalent to a billion trillion suns.
Really amazing stuff. A shocking amount of energy released. Wow.
I find the gravitational waves evidence really exciting and more proof that we barely grasp and understand how everything works.
OK, I have no idea what I just said
This demo station from the press conference will put it all in perspective for you.
Watch "MAJOR Discovery: Scientists announce finding Gravitational Waves confirming Einstein's theory" - ( New Window )
Link - ( New Window )
I'll settle for a car on autopilot for now.
The videos explain how the waves past through earth using "LIGO" to detect it.
It's quite fascinating. This is almost as groundbreaking when Galileo first peered through the telescope, and opened up a whole new world to us, over 400 years ago.
Quote:
how they connected this wave to that particular event?
The videos explain how the waves past through earth using "LIGO" to detect it.
It's quite fascinating. This is almost as groundbreaking when Galileo first peered through the telescope, and opened up a whole new world to us, over 400 years ago.
I understand how they detected the gravitational wave. What I didn't get was how they know that wave was formed from that particular event of the two black holes colliding and not some other event. Maybe I missed something in the explanations and videos.
But then we'll have the vulcans holding us down for a hundred years
Quote:
In comment 12810667 SwirlingEddie said:
Quote:
how they connected this wave to that particular event?
The videos explain how the waves past through earth using "LIGO" to detect it.
It's quite fascinating. This is almost as groundbreaking when Galileo first peered through the telescope, and opened up a whole new world to us, over 400 years ago.
I understand how they detected the gravitational wave. What I didn't get was how they know that wave was formed from that particular event of the two black holes colliding and not some other event. Maybe I missed something in the explanations and videos.
I agree, I can understand how the LIGO device works but in theory aren't there more than one event where two black holes collide that would cause gravitational waves? If so this means there are multiple sets of gravitational waves that LIGO could detect, how can you distinguish one from another? Maybe by the strength of the wave, but if they just found these waves in September how did they jump so quickly to the point to read their strength?
Also, one article mentioned physicists were able to 'hear' the two objects collide by listening to the wave patterns. While I do understand there are many 'waves' to detect when two black holes collide, but the collision itself is a singular event. Again, if they only found these waves in September, how did they get luckily enough to hear the singular event of the collision?
One MIT professor says in one of the videos that this will drastically change the way we will observe the universe, likening the breakthrough to the increase in the magnitude of our observational ability resulting from Galileo's first pointing a telescope toward the heavens. Just amazing.
I must be missing something, or the author is.