Tag: Theory of general relativity
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Einstein’s right again: Star obeys relativity as it whirls around Milky Way’s black hole
News Brief: A 26-year-long observational campaign provides clear evidence of the effect that general relativity has on the motion of a star known as S2 as it boomerangs around the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The redshift observations, made in infrared wavelengths using instruments on the European Southern Observatory’s…
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Europe’s Virgo detector picks up its first gravitational wave and nails down locale
This graphic shows the ripples in spacetime created by gravitational waves emanating from the merger of two black holes. (Max Planck Institute / NCSA Illustration) Astronomers have detected their fourth gravitational wave from the merger of two black holes, but this one marks a new milestone. It’s the first wave picked up by the Virgo…
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LIGO gets lit up again by gravitational waves from another black hole crash
An artist’s conception shows gravitational waves emanating like ripples in space time as two black holes approach each other in their orbits. (Credit: T. Pyle / LIGO) It looks as if gravitational-wave watchers are in for a bumpy, beautiful ride. Scientists using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, have confirmed the detection of another…
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Hanford’s scientists finally spill gravitational-wave secrets – but they still can’t tell all
The beamlines for the LIGO detector site at Hanford stretch out across the desert terrain of southeastern Washington. Each arm of the L-shaped detector is 2.5 miles long. (Credit: LIGO) HANFORD, Wash. – Physicists here had to keep mum for nearly five months about the gravitational-wave breakthrough they helped make, but they made up for their…
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Gravitational waves found! LIGO experiment watches two black holes smash together
A computer simulation shows two black holes shortly before they merge into one. (Credit: SXS) WASHINGTON, D.C. – After more than a decade of looking, scientists say they’ve detected the gravitational waves given off when two black holes merged into one bigger black hole. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves. We did it!” Caltech…
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LISA Pathfinder blasts off to blaze a trail for relativity’s biggest test
The LISA Pathfinder probe lifts off from the European Space Agency’s spaceport in Kourou. (ESA photo) The LISA Pathfinder probe is heading for a vantage point a million miles from Earth to help look for gravitational waves and add a missing piece to the evidence for general relativity. The European Space Agency said an Italian-built Vega rocket sent…