Gravitational Waves

Gravitational Waves Latest News

Scientists working with a network of observatories located around the world recently reported that they had detected a powerful and unusual burst of gravitational waves, which they called GW231123.

About Gravitational Waves

• Gravitational waves are ‘ripples’ in space-time caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in the Universe. 
• Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity. 
• Einstein’s mathematics showed that massive accelerating objects (things like neutron stars or black holes orbiting each other) would disrupt space-time in such a way that ‘waves’ of undulating space-time would propagate in all directions away from the source. 
• These cosmic ripples would travel at the speed of light, carrying with them information about their origins, as well as clues to the nature of gravity itself.
• These waves squeeze and stretch anything in their path as they pass by.
• The frequency of the wave will depend on the masses of the objects, and the strength will depend on how far away the event occurs. 
• The strongest gravitational waves are produced by cataclysmic events such as colliding black holes, supernovae (massive stars exploding at the end of their lifetimes), and colliding neutron stars. 
• Other gravitational waves are predicted to be caused by the rotation of neutron stars that are not perfect spheres, and possibly even the remnants of gravitational radiation created by the Big Bang.

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How do we know that Gravitational waves exist?

• In 2015, scientists detected gravitational waves for the very first time. 
• They used a very sensitive instrument called LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory).
• These first gravitational waves happened when two black holes crashed into one another.
• The collision happened 1.3 billion years ago. But the ripples didn’t make it to Earth until 2015.

Source: TH