Einstein was right: Gravitational waves detected for first time in landmark discovery

[BoraMurdar]

Scientists with the LIGO Laboratory announced earlier today that they've discovered gravitational waves. Some are calling it the most important breakthrough in modern science, something that Einstein predicted more than 100 years ago as part of his theory of relativity.

David Reitze, executive director of LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, said the waves they detected were a result of two black holes merging at half the speed of light. The event, which involved one black hole roughly the mass of 29 suns and another equivalent to 36 suns, took place roughly 1.3 billion years ago (it's taken them that long to reach Earth).

The waves, which Reitze said stretched and compressed our planet like Jell-O, were observed on September 14, 2015. They're so small, however, that they've been impossible to detect until just recently. LIGO was developed for this exact purpose, to detect gravitational waves.

Scientists spent the past six months convincing themselves that their findings were indeed accurate.



Columbia University physicist Szabolcs Marka, leader of the LIGO member Columbia Experimental Gravity Group, has been working on the project for more than a decade. Marka notes that although Einstein believed in the existence of gravitational waves, he thought they were so small that nobody would ever be able to measure them.

 

[Venustus]

I read this earlier today!!
What a brilliant discovery and validation of GR!!
The irony is that Einstein did not believe in Black Holes even though his GR equations predicted their existence!!

Cheers!!

 

[Andrew999]

here is another video on it

 

[LabZero]

Well, this is an extraordinary revolution in astronomy that will change the science!

Perhaps many people think that this does not lead to immediate practical results, but I'm sure this will happen in the near future.

 

[BoraMurdar]

It will actually change almost everything in macro cosmos physics

 

[Sana]

The part blackholes play in this universe, are still being uncovered.
One major finding was that galaxies themselves too revolve around blackholes.

Check out this video on Cygnus A
video-1446964782

 

[BoraMurdar]

ne major finding was that galaxies themselves too revolve around blackholes.

Yeah, due its massive gravitational force

 

[sid_16]

It's not 'proving' general relativity, despite the fact that these media channels have reported it that way.

It is detecting a phenomenon that was predicted by Einstein. It can be compared to the announcement a few years ago that they had detected Higgs bosons - particles whose existence was predicted fifty years earlier by theoretical particle physicists.

It can be counted as additional evidence in favor of Einstein's theory, and the removal of one potential reason to doubt the theory, but it is not a proof. Scientific theories are never proven. Nevertheless, it is an exciting news.

 

[jogs]

As days will go by, we will discover more and more spectacular things. What we know about the Universe is like speck of dust in a big field. We have to always keep our eyes open. As we know a very little, our science cannot describe a lot of things that happen around us.

 

[Rishi]

Since we are discussing astronomy, I thought I'd share this, very interesting : The Scale of the Universe 2

 

[frogboy]

Since we are discussing astronomy, I thought I'd share this, very interesting : The Scale of the Universe 2

Very cool.

 

[jamescv7]

Definitely with proper materials and funds there should be a sufficient study for that, because even though the proposal contains validity to prove like certain topic of gravitational waves then numerous sources must be supported on.

Good explanation throughout the video, gravitational waves exist at all and with those related comparison then definitely its been around very long time. Its an imaginary and only those special instrument can show it, we cannot feel that in the sense there's an influence of gravity.