Billions of years ago, two black holes merged in a violent explosion that rippled the fabric of our universe.
Those cosmic ripples — known as gravitational waves — produced by this collision spread far and wide in all directions, carrying with them information about the black holes that brought them into being.
In September 2015, that information made it to Earth. While these weren’t the first gravitational waves to reach our planet, they were the first we could observe.
Two powerful tools known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatories (LIGO) were able to directly observe the gravitational waves sent out by the two black holes, opening up a new way for scientists to study the inner-workings of some of the most extreme objects in the universe. Read more…
More about Astronomy, Space Exploration, Gravitational Waves, Ligo, and Within
Originally syndicated from Ripples in space and time carry the future of space science
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