#black hole binary

[skycrorg]

For the first time, astronomers have directly detected two supermassive black holes orbiting each other at the core of galaxy Markarian 501 — and they could merge in just 100 years. 🌌🕳️🕳️ A historic discovery that reshapes our understanding of galaxy evolution and opens a new window onto gravitational waves. 🔭🌊

First close pair of supermassive black holes detected in Markarian 501

[crags]

Congrats Advanced LIGO!

Today is an important day for modern science! Just shortly after the centennial of general relativity, Advanced LIGO has finally detected gravitational wave signals on Earth!

Gravitational radiation is a phenomenon predicted by the field equations of general relativity. These are perturbations of spacetime which are incredibly tiny in magnitude (relative to electromagnetic radiation, for example) making them very evasive to detectors on Earth. In fact, they are so small that only the largest of astrophysical events (such as supernovae, black hole coalescence) can produce signals detectable on Earth.

With this accomplishment, observational astronomy is forever revolutionized – as gravitational radiation detection is refined, we have yet another method to probe the Universe. Congratulations!