“We have detected gravitational waves. We did it “.
Gravitational waves are real.
It’s the news of the day, but also the discovery of the century: the LIGO experiment (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) has made the first direct observation of gravitational waves.
Announcing it directly, without preamble, was David Reize, executive director of the LIGO experiment.
The faint signal detected by LIGO was produced by a colliding system of two black holes, about 1.3 billion light-years away, with a mass 30 times that of the Sun.
The signal, first detected by the LIGO interferometer in Louisiana last September, needed time to be confirmed. But it was worth the wait.
Explaining the importance of the discovery was Kip Thorne, one of the world’s leading experts on the theory of general relativity, now also known to the general public as the film Interstellar is based on his theories.
Not only do we have direct proof of the existence of gravitational waves, but also of black holes. Although predicted by theory, a colliding system (merger) of two massive black holes had never been observed before.
Here’s a link to an interesting video on gravitational waves produced by PHD Comics.