A different kind of gravitational wave detector

Hidden deep in a basement at Stanford stands a 10-meter-tall tube, wrapped in a metal cage and draped in wires. A barrier separates it from the main room, beyond which the cylinder spans three stories to an apparatus holding ...

Found: three black holes on collision course

Astronomers have spotted three giant black holes within a titanic collision of three galaxies. Several observatories, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other NASA space telescopes, captured the unusual system.

Laser prototype for space-based gravitational wave detector

Researchers have announced a prototype for a laser at the heart of the first space-based gravitational wave observatory, known as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. The team's new laser nearly meets the ...

First 'overtones' heard in the ringing of a black hole

When two black holes collide, they merge into one bigger black hole and ring like a struck bell, sending out ripples in space and time called gravitational waves. Embedded in these gravitational waves are specific frequencies, ...

Mass estimated for two binary pulsars

By performing timing observations, an international group of astronomers has measured the mass of two binary millisecond pulsars designated PSR J1949+3106 and PSR J1950+2414. The results could be essential in order to unveil ...

First-ever open public alerts now available from LIGO

Two new probable gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of spacetime caused by cataclysmic cosmic events and first predicted by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago—have been detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave ...

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