Discoveries:

Scientists confirm Einstein's prediction

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A clash of two black holes brought on a gravitational wave.
A clash of two black holes brought on a gravitational wave.
Image: Simulating Extreme Spacetimes, SXS/ CalTech.edu.
Using high-tech laser observatories, scientists have detected gravitational waves that formed when two black holes collided -- confirming a prediction made by Albert Einstein.

      The observatories,twin Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory detectors,“simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal” Sept. 14, according to the research, published Feb. 11 in the journal Physical Review Letters. The observatories are in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington.
    “These observations demonstrate the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems,” the journal reported. “This is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger.”
     The waves were created by merging black holes approximately 1.3 billion light-years away and 1.3 billion years ago.
     The Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics describes gravitational waves as “small distortions of space-time geometry which propagate through space as waves.” It adds that the hunt for gravitational waves is “one of the greatest adventures of modern physics.”
    The discovery opens up a new way of observing the universe and could allow scientists to learn more about gravity, said Gregory Harry, assistant professor of physics at American University and one of the authors, in an American University news release.
    Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916, the year after the final formulation of the field equations of general relativity, according to the research. Experiments to detect gravitational waves began in the 1960s.

     To know more: Visit the LIGO Scientific Collaboration website.

     Related:

     NASA telescope captures rare black hole event

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