gravitational waves

Science

Scientists have found signs of a new kind of gravitational wave. It's really big

8:00pm June 28, 2023

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists say they've found evidence of a very long gravitational wave that could open a window onto supermassive black holes — and perhaps even other extreme, unseen objects in the universe.

C.V. Vishveshwara in 2007 in Oak Park, Illinois.

Science

C.V. Vishveshwara's Revolutionary Black Hole Research Turns 50

11:44pm December 29, 2020

by Joe Palca

Before scientists were even sure black holes existed, an Indian astrophysicist did the math behind Einstein's predictions of what would happen if two black holes collided.

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Rich Isaacson, seen in his backyard in Pentagon City, Va., wrote his thesis on gravitational waves and says he always thought their existence would be proved sometime during his career. But he didn't realize that trying to see them would become his career

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Billion-Dollar Gamble: How A 'Singular Hero' Helped Start A New Field In Physics

12:20pm May 19, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

In the 1970s, Rich Isaacson was presented with what seemed like a crazy idea: using lasers to detect gravitational waves. It became the biggest project the National Science Foundation had ever funded.

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Scientist Corey Gray and his mother, Sharon Yellowfly, are pictured at one of the two massive detectors that make up the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. One facility, where Gray works, is in Washington state, and the other is in Louis

Science

How A Cosmic Collision Sparked A Native American Translator's Labor Of Love

5:19pm March 31, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

On April 1, astronomers will start two huge machines and continue hunting for ripples in space-time. One scientist gets his mom to translate news of each discovery into her native language, Blackfoot.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory is made up of two detectors, this one in Livingston, La., and one near Hanford, Wash. The detectors use giant arms in the shape of an "L" to measure tiny ripples in the fabric of the universe.

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Massive U.S. Machines That Hunt For Ripples In Space-Time Just Got An Upgrade

4:40pm March 19, 2019

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The twin sites in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory are about to go back online. New hardware should make them able to sense more colliding black holes and other cosmic events.

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The original historical documents related to Albert Einstein's prediction of the existence of gravitational waves are seen at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on Feb. 11, 2016.

Science

How Do Gravitational Waves Really Work?

3:54pm November 07, 2017

by Adam Frank

Gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time — are a big deal in the world of science. Here's a video that helps explain how they work.

David Reitze of the California Institute of Technology and the executive director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington on Oct. 16. He talks of one of the most violent events i

Science

A New Era For Astronomy Has Begun

3:02pm October 18, 2017

by Marcelo Gleiser

Astronomy is forever changed by the viewing of the collision of neutron stars; we can now watch these processes in many different ways as they run their course, says astrophysicist Marcelo Gleiser.

The collision of two neutron stars, seen in an artist's rendering, created both gravitational waves and gamma rays. Researchers used those signals to locate the event with optical telescopes.

Astronomers Strike Gravitational Gold In Colliding Neutron Stars

4:44pm October 16, 2017

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

In an astonishing discovery, astronomers used gravitational waves to locate two neutron stars smashing together. The collision created 200 Earth masses of pure gold, along with other elements.

Einstein realized that if masses moved about, the deformations in space would also move about, propagating like waves, somewhat like what happens when you throw a rock on a pond. But, gravity being such a weak force, the effect is truly tiny and needs som

Science

Nobel Winners' Work In Physics Began With Albert Einstein

1:08pm October 03, 2017

by Marcelo Gleiser

Three scientists won the prize after a 25-year-long search of the cosmos for gravitational waves — the waving of space — the one test missing for Einstein, says astrophysicist Marcelo Gleiser.

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The Long Path To Life And The Recycled Star You Are

10:34am July 01, 2016

by Shawn Fitzmaurice

To make enough of the elements to support the chemical complexity of biology, we need an enormously old universe. Stars truly are the factories of life. But for you or your cat to exist, several generations of stars need to have come and gone - each born from the atoms of previous generations, like the babies of the Orion Nebula.

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