Scientists from Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) finally detected gravitational waves; also known as Einstein’s ripples in space-time.
“We have detected gravitational waves,” Professor David Reitze, executive director of the LIGO project, told journalists at a news conference in Washington DC.
“It’s the first time the universe has spoken to us through gravitational waves. Up until now, we’ve been deaf.”
Professor Karsten Danzmann, from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, told the BBC this is a stunning discovery and a very important development in science.
“There is a Nobel Prize in it – there is no doubt,”.
So what are gravitational waves, and how do they relate to time travel?
Without going to deep into the explanation, gravitational waves are ripples in the universe.
They are caused by some of the most energetic cosmic events, from exploding stars to supermassive black hole mergers releasing tremendous burst of energy, propagating through space as gravitational waves.
In movies, for instance, whenever a black hole is shown, we see massive, rippled grids that depict the universe’s fabric.
When a stellar body explodes, we see these ripples spread out from a source, which is similar to dropping a solid object into a pool of water.
Up until this latest discovery, however, detecting these ripples has been almost impossible.
The LIGO team added their finding will open new ways for observing the cosmos and open a new era for astronomy.
For decades, scientists have had indirect evidence of the existence of gravitational waves rippling across the universe.
It is the culmination of decades of searching and could ultimately also offer a window on the Big Bang and the early universe.
