Scientists Discover Gravitation Waves For The Second Time This Year
History has been created yet again. A team of scientists at the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Waves Observatory (LIGO) has discovered signs of gravitational waves. The breakthrough has been achieved for the second time in 2016.
According to reports, the scientists have confirmed the presence of gravitational waves that appear just like ripples in spacetime, as proposed by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago. For researchers, detecting gravitational waves for the second time is like entering an era of gravitational wave astronomy.
In February 2016, a team of LIGO researchers created history by claiming that a spacetime ripple has been detected in their sensors placed in Louisiana, Washington, Livingston and Hanford on Sept. 14, 2015. The ripples were believed to emerge from the final stages of the merging of two black holes located at a distance of 1.3 billion light years. The black holes were estimated to weight 29 and 36 solar masses.
The second gravitational wave, who announcement was made recently, was detected on Dec. 26, 2015. The waves again emerged from the two black holed that were at the brink of merging and weighed 8 and 14 solar masses, respectively. The black holes in this case were located 1.4 billion years away.
The research team is excited to have detected the gravitational waves for the second time. For them, having an opportunity to witness more than one gravitational wave source is a proof that all of this could be actually true.
When two heavy objects in space collide with each other, they send across ripples or shock waves in the form of gravitational waves. These waves are incredibly faint, but it is true that they are happening around the universe. The researchers are hoping to turn their telescopes toward the source of the gravitational waves now.
The complete details of the discovery have been described in the journal Physical Review Letters.
