Einstein was right! Scientists confirm that gravitational waves exist

[webfact]

Einstein was right! Scientists confirm that gravitational waves exist



WASHINGTON: -- In a landmark discovery for studying the cosmos, researchers have for the first time detected gravitational waves, ripples in space and time which were hypothesized a century ago by physicist Albert Einstein.

The announcement was made by scientists from the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration at a news conference on Thursday in Washington.

They said they detected gravitational waves coming from two black holes – extraordinarily dense objects whose existence was also foreseen by Einstein – that orbited one another, spiraled inward and smashed together.

They said the waves were the product of a collision between two black holes 30 times as massive as the Sun, located 1.3 billion light years from Earth.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-02-12

[LostTourist]

That can't be possible as we all know the universe revolves around Thailand, and the gravity waves come from Pattiya,Patong,Cheawang and Patpong.

gravitational waves, ripples in space and time that suck in every debauched being that enters it.

[webfact]

Einstein's right again: Scientists detect ripples in gravity
By SETH BORENSTEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was just a tiny, almost imperceptible "chirp," but it simultaneously opened humanity's ears to the music of the cosmos and proved Einstein right again.

In what is being hailed as one of the biggest eureka moments in the history of physics, scientists announced Thursday that they have finally detected gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space and time that Einstein predicted a century ago.

The news exhilarated astronomers and physicists. Because the evidence of gravitational waves is captured in audio form, the finding means astronomers will now be able to hear the soundtrack of the universe and listen as violent collisions reshape the cosmos.

It will be like going from silent movies to talkies, they said.

"Until this moment, we had our eyes on the sky and we couldn't hear the music," said Columbia University astrophysicist Szabolcs Marka, a member of the discovery team. "The skies will never be the same."

An all-star international team of astrophysicists used an exquisitely sensitive, $1.1 billion set of twin instruments known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO, to detect a gravitational wave generated by the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion light-years from Earth.

"Einstein would be beaming," said National Science Foundation director France Cordova.

The proof consisted of what scientists called a single chirp — in truth, it sounded more like a thud — that was picked up on Sept. 14. Astronomers played the recording at an overflowing news conference Thursday.

"That's the chirp we've been looking for," said Louisiana State University physicist Gabriela Gonzalez, scientific spokeswoman for the LIGO team. Scientists said they hope to have a greatest hits compilation of the universe in a decade or so.

Some physicists said the finding is as big a deal as the 2012 discovery of the subatomic Higgs boson, known as the "God particle." Some said this is bigger.

"It's really comparable only to Galileo taking up the telescope and looking at the planets," said Penn State physics theorist Abhay Ashtekar, who wasn't part of the discovery team.

Physicist Stephen Hawking congratulated the LIGO team, telling the BBC: "Gravitational waves provide a completely new way of looking at the universe. The ability to detect them has the potential to revolutionize astronomy."

Gravitational waves, postulated by Albert Einstein in 1916 as part of his theory of general relativity, are extraordinarily faint ripples in space-time, the continuum that combines both time and three-dimensional space. When massive objects like black holes or neutron stars collide, they generate gravitational waves that stretch space-time or cause it to bunch up like a fishing net.

Scientists found indirect proof of gravitational waves in the 1970s by studying the motion of two colliding stars, and the work was honored as part of the 1993 Nobel Prize in physics. But now scientists can say they have direct proof.

"It's one thing to know sound waves exist, but it's another to actually hear Beethoven's Fifth Symphony," said Marc Kamionkowski, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University who wasn't part of the discovery team. "In this case, we're actually getting to hear black holes merging."

In this case, the crashing of the two black holes stretched and squished Earth so that it was "jiggling like Jell-O," but in a tiny, almost imperceptible way, said David Reitze, LIGO's executive director.

The dual LIGO detectors went off just before 5 a.m. in Louisiana and emails started flying. "I went, 'Holy moly,'" Reitze said.

But the finding had to be verified, using such means as conventional telescopes, before the scientists could say with confidence it was a gravitational wave. They concluded there was less than a 1-in-3.5-million chance they were wrong, he said.

LIGO technically wasn't even operating in full science mode; it was still in the testing phase when the signal came through, Reitze said.

"We were surprised, BOOM, right out of the box, we get one," Reitze said.

Reitze said that given how quickly they found their first wave, scientists expect to hear more of them, maybe even a few per month.

Detecting gravitational waves is so difficult that Einstein figured scientists would never be able to hear them. The greatest scientific mind of the 20th century underestimated the technological know-how of his successors.

In 1979, the National Science Foundation decided to give money to the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to come up with a way to detect the waves.

Twenty years later, they started building two LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, and they were turned on in 2001. But after years with no luck, scientists realized they had to build a much more sensitive system, which was turned on last September.

Sensitivity is crucial because the stretching and squeezing of space-time by gravitational waves is incredibly tiny. Essentially, LIGO detects waves that pull and compress the entire Milky Way galaxy "by the width of your thumb," said team member Chad Hanna of Pennsylvania State University.

Each LIGO detector has two giant perpendicular arms more than 2 miles long. A laser beam is split and travels both arms, bouncing off mirrors to return to the arms' intersection.

Normally, the two beams are aligned so that they balance each other out and there's nothing to hear. But if there's a gravitational wave, it creates an incredibly tiny mismatch, which is what LIGO detects.

A giant team of scientists had to keep the discovery secret until it was time to be announced. The study detailing the research in the journal Physical Review Letters had 1,004 authors.

Kip Thorne, the Cal Tech physicist who co-founded LIGO and has been working on gravitational waves for more than half a century, said he kept the secret even from his wife until just a few days ago. When he heard about the wave, he said, "it was just sort of a sigh of happiness."


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-02-12

[lostinisaan]

That can't be possible as we all know the universe revolves around Thailand, and the gravity waves come from Pattiya,Patong,Cheawang and Patpong.

gravitational waves, ripples in space and time that suck in every debauched being that enters it.

Gravitational waves do not help locals to keep their faces.

[jpinx]

Einstein -- right again ! It's difficult to imagine what it must have been like to live in his head -- being able to imagine such things when all around him the day-to-day life was such a mess.

[klauskunkel]

Einstein -- right again ! It's difficult to imagine what it must have been like to live in his head -- being able to imagine such things when all around him the day-to-day life was such a mess.

agree - and I like to know which bar he went to.

[HenryB]

I wonder when certain bigots and fools will boycott the work of Einstein

This must bug them why this group has to so many great thinkers

[Usernames]

I wonder when certain bigots and fools will boycott the work of Einstein

This must bug them why this group has to so many great thinkers

Funny thing is that Einstein, Napoleon, LBJ, and Hitler belonged to the same haplogroup. Cursor to the bottom of the page: http://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_E1b1b_Y-DNA.shtml

[SOTIRIOS]

.....now what.....???

[Credo]

.....now what.....???

We have always know what happens when you fall off the bar stool; now we know why.

[daveAustin]

.....now what.....???

'See' the Big Bang etc. It is actually a big deal to those with half a brain who can see past their own measly lives and other trivial things that go on in our quiet little corner of the universe.

[TPI]

"Things" just keep happening! Waves the thickness of your thumb within the galaxy! Christians and Muslims must be hiding their heads under the blankets!

[boomerangutang]

It's a good thing neither the Vatican nor Mecca rules the world. If so, they'd have those scientists burned on stakes as heretics.

Either that, or forced to write 1,000 times; "The sun revolves around the Earth."

[HenryB]

I wonder when certain bigots and fools will boycott the work of Einstein

This must bug them why this group has to so many great thinkers

Funny thing is that Einstein, Napoleon, LBJ, and Hitler belonged to the same haplogroup. Cursor to the bottom of the page: http://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_E1b1b_Y-DNA.shtml

I hope you do not believe bull like you posted.

Please seek help if you do

[hhinhh]

Einstein -- right again ! It's difficult to imagine what it must have been like to live in his head -- being able to imagine such things when all around him the day-to-day life was such a mess.

He also had comments about that: There are two things that are unlimited, the space and human stupidity while I am not sure about the space.

Edited February 13, 2016 by hhinhh

[GOLDBUGGY]

That can't be possible as we all know the universe revolves around Thailand, and the gravity waves come from Pattiya,Patong,Cheawang and Patpong.

gravitational waves, ripples in space and time that suck in every debauched being that enters it.

Thanks for the enlightenment! And here all this time I foolishly thought these Gravity Waves were coming from that Base at the Sing-a-long Bar across from my old place in Pattaya.

[Scott]

It would seem that most things here ultimately gravitate towards Pattaya.