TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction A Bump in the Night 4 Chapter 1 Discovering Black Holes 10 Chapter 2 Black Hole Detectives 18 Chapter 3 Breaking Black Hole News 28 Chapter 4 Real-Life Science Fiction 36 What’s Next 41 Source Notes 44 Glossary 45 Selected Bibliography 46 Further Reading 46 Index 47
INTRODUCTION A BUMP IN THE NIGHT An observatory in Livingston Louisiana In the early morning hours of September 14 2015 astronomers in two quiet observatories one in Louisiana and the other in Washington State heard a little chirping sound To anyone other than the astronomers who had been waiting for years to hear those noises the chirps might have sounded like some random computer static But to the scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory LIGO sites those sounds were potentially groundbreaking 4
LIGO scientists use equipment such as this laser-beam splitter to search for signs of black holes The scientists working at the LIGO sites didn’t get excited right away Instead they got to work They analyzed the data They made sure the noises weren’t a mistake or a fake signal They checked and rechecked their equipment And they kept the chirp a secret Finally in February 2016 they made their announcement A LIGO scientist tests laser equipment
