Gravitatational waves discovered

[dangull]

How will this change the way we view the universe?

A simple question obviously for the clever people on NSC

 

[Albumen]

How will this change the way we view the universe?

A simple question obviously for the clever people on NSC

Hope so.

 

[TomandJerry]

Gravitational waves are prediction of the Theory of General Relativity

Their existence has been inferred by science but only now directly detected

They are ripples in the fabric of space and time produced by violent events

Accelerating masses will produce waves that propagate at the speed of light

Detectable sources ought to include merging black holes and neutron stars

LIGO fires lasers into long, L-shaped tunnels; the waves disturb the light


"Scientists announce discovery of clear gravitational wave signal, ripples in spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein"
Detecting the waves opens up the Universe to completely new investigations

 

[Triggaaar]

How will this change the way we view the universe?

A simple question obviously for the clever people on NSC

For most, the change will go unnoticed, and they will continue to view the universe with their eyes.

 

[Eric Potts]

Eddys in the space-time continuum you say ?

 

[Insel affe]

For most, the change will go unnoticed, and they will continue to view the universe with their eyes.

Would those be the blinkered, the ones we see in the supermarket with a trolley full of cakes, crisps and various other junk including Diet Coke whilst moaning how little they have got queuing to get a weeks worth of fags..

Guess it won't affect them very much.

 

[Blazing Apostle]

Does that mean time travel now potentially possible?

 

[Prince Monolulu]

Will it bring back Ulloa's penalty?

 

[Triggaaar]

Does that mean time travel now potentially possible?

No Well, not traveling back in time at least.

 

[TomandJerry]

Does that mean time travel now potentially possible?

Have you not seen back to the future?

 

[dangull]

Einstein predicted this in his theory of general relativity over 100 years ago. A remarkable man.

 

[Stat Brother]

Not so long ago The Infinite Monkey Cage did a couple of special programmes on The Theory of General Relativity:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06r4wg9

 

[easynow]

How will this change the way we view the universe?

A simple question obviously for the clever people on NSC

instead of relying on the electromagnetic spectrum for observing the universe (light/radio etc) they can now detect gravity waves, but for now...only when two black holes smash together or something of that scale. The big deal is that the theory is now confirmed and more funding will be avalable to make better machines to detect them on a smaller scale. It will also help them find out what dark matter is. btw, whenever you hear anything astronomy-related with 'Dark' in the beginning it's because they don't what it is haha

 

[Igzilla]

Theoretically, we will be able to detect the gravitational waves from the Big Bang itself. All other forms of direct astronomy can only go as far back as about 400,000 years after it happened (called recombination, when matter had cooled sufficiently for atoms to form - until then all light was continually absorbed, making the Universe opaque. It is from just after this point (called photon decoupling) that the cosmic microwave background comes from). Everything we think we know before this point is all from theory, so physical detections will be a test of how robust our understanding of physics actually is.

Could be a biggie.

 

[looney]

Surfs up Dudes.

 

[dangull]

Theoretically, we will be able to detect the gravitational waves from the Big Bang itself. All other forms of direct astronomy can only go as far back as about 400,000 years after it happened (called recombination, when matter had cooled sufficiently for atoms to form - until then all light was continually absorbed, making the Universe opaque. It is from just after this point (called photon decoupling) that the cosmic microwave background comes from). Everything we think we know before this point is all from theory, so physical detections will be a test of how robust our understanding of physics actually is.

Could be a biggie.

That sounds interesting and I admire your knowledge.

 

[Bigtomfu]

Theoretically, we will be able to detect the gravitational waves from the Big Bang itself. All other forms of direct astronomy can only go as far back as about 400,000 years after it happened (called recombination, when matter had cooled sufficiently for atoms to form - until then all light was continually absorbed, making the Universe opaque. It is from just after this point (called photon decoupling) that the cosmic microwave background comes from). Everything we think we know before this point is all from theory, so physical detections will be a test of how robust our understanding of physics actually is.

Could be a biggie.

Surfs up Dudes.

Bloody love NSC. Summed up by the juxtaposition of these two posts perfectly!
[MENTION=25615]Igzilla[/MENTION] hobby, profession, under/post graduate studies or all of the above?

Have often thought that it wouldn't surprise me if one day we establish that the observable universe as we know it is just one of many universes and our sense of scale is nothing is well out of whack with everything.

Perhaps gravitational waves could confirm the existence of other universes in a multiverse? (Different frequencies, wavelengths etc)

 

[Igzilla]

Bloody love NSC. Summed up by the juxtaposition of these two posts perfectly!
[MENTION=25615]Igzilla[/MENTION] hobby, profession, under/post graduate studies or all of the above?

Have often thought that it wouldn't surprise me if one day we establish that the observable universe as we know it is just one of many universes and our sense of scale is nothing is well out of whack with everything.

Perhaps gravitational waves could confirm the existence of other universes in a multiverse? (Different frequencies, wavelengths etc)

MPhys in Physics with Astrophysics (Hons), from the University of GOSBTS.
General Relativity did my head in. Quantum Mechanics was okay, but Dirac notation finally did for me

 

[Stat Brother]

MPhys in Physics with Astrophysics (Hons), from the University of GOSBTS.
General Relativity did my head in. Quantum Mechanics was okay, but Dirac notation finally did for me

Yeah but can you save a drowning brick while wearing only your pyjamas?

 

[The Albion Roar]

It's quite funny / scary in equal measure when you see scientists going potty over a discovery most of the rest of us are going 'what...?'

Like in this instance.