This sky map shows the approximate location of the source of the gravitational waves detected in September 2015 The chirping noises picked up by LIGO were gravitational waves or ripples in space-time The waves came from two distant black holes that collided more than one billion years ago The collision sent ripples through space and time These waves finally rippled through Earth in 2015 and were detected by LIGO This was the first-ever detection of gravitational waves and it helped confirm a theory about the universe that physicist Albert Einstein had come up with in 1915 The detection also proved the idea that two black holes could orbit each other and eventually merge This knowledge will help scientists study and understand black holes where they come from and how powerful they are 6
The detection of gravitational waves helped confirm one of Einstein’s theories about gravity According to some scientists this discovery was the beginning of a whole new way of looking at the universe almost like gaining a new sense Up until now we’ve been deaf to gravitational waves said LIGO executive director David Reitze What’s going to come now is we’re going to hear more things things that we never expected Black holes have been a hard-to-solve mystery for years They are difficult to study and difficult to understand The LIGO discovery has given astronomers one more way to study black holes An artist’s depiction of gravitational waves created by orbiting neutron stars 7
This illustration shows what a black hole may look like By studying gravitational waves scientists can work to gather a more complete picture of black holes and their surroundings These studies will help scientists further understand the fundamental laws of the universe It’s like Galileo pointing the telescope for the first time at the sky said LIGO team member Vassiliki Kalogera You’re opening your eyes or in this case our ears to a new set of signals from the universe that our previous technologies did not allow us to receive study and learn from In simple terms a black hole is a place in space where a lot of matter has been pushed into a small space The resulting object has such a strong gravitational pull that not even light can escape it 8
Gas and dust surrounding the unseen center of a black hole are depicted in this artist’s image A black hole feeds on a nearby star left in this But black holes are far from simple We are only just beginning to understand how black holes are created where they can be found and how much force they hold Many unknowns remain about these dark dense areas in space and scientists and astronomers make new discoveries and come up with new theories about them every day By continuing to explore and study black holes scientists can learn more not only about the nature of black holes but also about the nature of the entire universe artist’s impression 9
