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A Fourth Gravitational Wave Has Been Detected (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Astronomers have made a new detection of gravitational waves and for the first time have been able to trace the shape of ripples sent through spacetime when black holes collide. The announcement, made at a meeting of the G7 science ministers in Turin, marks the fourth cataclysmic black-hole merger that astronomers have spotted using Ligo, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The latest detection is the first to have also been picked up by the Virgo detector, located near Pisa, Italy, providing a new layer of detail on the three dimensional pattern of warping that occurs during some of the most violent and energetic events in the universe.
A tiny wobble in the signal, picked up by Ligo's twin instruments and the Virgo detector on 14 August, could be traced back to the final moments of the merger of two black holes about 1.8 billion years ago. The black holes, with masses about 31 and 25 times the mass of the sun, combined to produce a newly spinning black hole with about 53 times the mass of the sun. The remaining three solar masses were converted into pure energy that spilled out as deformations that spread outwards across spacetime like ripples across a pond. Detecting these tiny distortions has required detectors sensitive enough to measuring a discrepancy of just one thousandth of the diameter of an atomic nucleus across a 4km laser beam. A paper about the latest discovery has been accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters.
A tiny wobble in the signal, picked up by Ligo's twin instruments and the Virgo detector on 14 August, could be traced back to the final moments of the merger of two black holes about 1.8 billion years ago. The black holes, with masses about 31 and 25 times the mass of the sun, combined to produce a newly spinning black hole with about 53 times the mass of the sun. The remaining three solar masses were converted into pure energy that spilled out as deformations that spread outwards across spacetime like ripples across a pond. Detecting these tiny distortions has required detectors sensitive enough to measuring a discrepancy of just one thousandth of the diameter of an atomic nucleus across a 4km laser beam. A paper about the latest discovery has been accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters.
How about, uh, the last 48 hours. Seriously guyz, to the extent that you're able to divulge, what the hell happened? https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/27/faulty_data_center_takes_out_sourceforge/ Because we're glad you're back, but we really missed you.
Is not the warping they do exactly what is needed for warp drive?
Test, is it working now?
One of the three are here.
"The gravitational waves were detected on Aug. 14, first at the Livingston, La., observatory. A few thousandths of a second later, they were detected at the Hanford LIGO and shortly after that at the Virgo observatory." http://www.tri-cityherald.com/...
I get the idea that spacetime is warped by gravity. What I don't get is how there can be ripples in spacetime. There appear to be people saying that gravity also moves at the speed of light which is how LIGO is finding gravity waves. But if gravity moved at the speed of light, surely Newtonian physics wouldn't work the way it does. E.g. if it took 9 minutes for the sun's gravity to reach Earth, our planet would not be where it is now. Does anyone know how this is possible?
These are some of the rarest astronomical bodies in the universe and we've already detected 4 of them colliding? Wow maybe they are more common than we thought.
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
NPR (Nation Public Radio) posted a story on this:
http://www.npr.org/2017/09/27/...
At the end of the story they said that since it was 2 black holes, it was unlikely that there would be any light from the event. What was interesting, was that they stated that there were unconfined reports of either a neutron star colliding with a black hole or with another neutron star a few days later. If this observation is confirmed, then there is a possibility that light could have been also observed from that event.
Why has LIGO on recently defected waves if it has been running for many years. Did they do some sort of upgrade?
Praxis?
From now on if anything bad related to gravitation happens (people falling down and everything), the italian judges will hold scientists responsible and will prosecute them.
Did I read it correctly that 3 solar masses were converted to energy? Over what period of time I wonder. Our own sun's total output would not consume all its mass over billions of years.
How big a blast zone did that leave? I can imagine star systems for light years around could have been burnt, destroying civilizations. Has anyone done the numbers?
I just want a Ligo app so that the moment Ligo detects a signal I get notified with a chirp and a vibration, so that I can almost feel the wave as it passes.
Em fluctuations act upon the em field. Grab dluctuations act upon the gravity field. There are 5 fields of force. Learn elementary science man.
This always happens during times of intensive solar flares.
I'm thinking the Electric Universe's answer is right.
Science & open-source build trust from peer review. Learn systems you can trust.
I felt a great disturbance in the Force.
As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.