All You Need To Know About Gravitational Waves
1
Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves in his general theory of relativity a century ago. They are ripples in space-time, the very fabric of the universe.
2
The discovery of these waves, created by violent collisions in the universe, excites astronomers because it opens the door to a new way of observing the cosmos.
3
These waves are produced by disturbances in the fabric of space and time when a massive object moves, like a black hole or a neutron star.
4
The strongest waves are caused by the most cataclysmic processes in the Universe -- two black holes colliding, massive stars exploding, or the very birth of the universe some 13.8 billion years ago.
5
These waves are streaming to you all the time and if you could see them, you could see back to the first one trillionth of a second of the Big Bang: Tuck Stebbins, gravitational astrophysics Lab Chief at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center.
6
Gravitational waves do not interact with matter and travel through the universe completely unimpeded.
7
The first-ever detection of gravitational waves opens a new window on the universe and its most violent phenomena.
8
The ability to observe these gravitational waves would offer astronomer and physicists a new look at the most mysterious workings of the universe.
9
It will enable scientists to build a network of gravitational-wave observatories both on Earth and in space that can see through billions of light years of the cosmic void.
10
Comments